Rabbit & Panther
by Akiyotame
Summary: Under certain circumstances, the police force will be made to use all of their resources and send in the best that they have. Umi and Maki are sent in under these conditions. Why do they choose two women over an entire task force?
1. Hostage Rescue

"Sir, we have a hostage situation and they're demanding for an escape helicopter." The officer spoke into a car radio.

"How many hostages are there?" The chief asked.

"We are unsure, but there are more than one. The hostiles threatened to kill off hostages in 30 minute intervals unless they get that helicopter," he replied hastily.

The chief clicked his tongue and thought for a moment, he took a deep breath and spoke with a hushed voice, "... I'm sending in the girls."

"But sir..."

"It's for the safety of the civilians, stand down until they arrive," the chief hung up and left his office.

A team of armed officers followed behind him as he made his way down to the basement of the police station. He clicked on a button and the wall began to move. It slid open and he took a step inside, signalling the team behind him to stand down.

It was a small room that resembled an average apartment. There were two beds and a girl with red hair sat on one of them. Over in the corner was a desk which was occupied by a girl with blue hair. Their clothing was normal, but both of them wore a distinct collar around their necks.

"Well, well, chief... letting us out of the cage?" The one with red hair said.

"I need your services," he replied.

"It's not like we have a choice," the one with blue hair said.

The chief walked in and gave the two a sitrep, "We are currently dealing with a hostage situation downtown. There are numerous hostages and they are threatening to kill a hostage every 30 minutes until their demands are met."

"I like their style..." the red haired one spoke.

The chief ignored her comment and continued, "They are demanding an escape helicopter."

"Quite a flashy way to escape..." the blue haired one added.

"It is your job to eliminate the hostiles and save the hostages. If any of them are killed, consider the mission a failure."

His voice became grim, "and you know the consequences of failure," he pulled out a small remote with a button that was labeled 'detonate'.

"Yeah yeah, just give us our gear and we'll be on our way," the red haired girl stood up and stretched.

The chief looked back at one of his guards and signalled him in, he carried a large keyboard sized case and set it down in front of the girls.

"There will be a helicopter on the landing pad to take you to the scene of the crime, use it as a decoy to land on top and infiltrate the building." he announced before leaving with his guards.

The red haired girl pranced over to the case and opened it, "it's been a long time since we were let out, Umi."

Umi walked over, "Yeah... let's make sure to have some fun today, Maki."

Maki snickered and moved over to the side for Umi to grab her gear. The two suited up and made their way to the helipad on the roof where the chief was waiting. They hopped in and the helicopter flew off.

"Why didn't you send in our response team which has more men?" an officer asked.

"Because these two have no other option than to succeed in the rescue." He said.

"What do you mean by that, sir?"

The chief turned around and motioned the officer to follow him back downstairs, "Tell me, why do you think police forces are prone to failure in these kinds of situations?"

"I'm not sure sir," the officer replied.

The chief spoke a single word, "Hesitation."

"Hesitation? I don't understand,"

"When it comes down to it, whoever can pull the trigger first is the victor," he explained.

"I guess that makes sense... but why send those girls in?"

The chief replied, "What's a better way to stop a criminal by using another?"

"You mean to tell me that those two are criminals too?" the officer widened his eyes in surprise.

"Yes, they are bound to a contract with their lives on the line. That is why they cannot fail."

"But sir, isn't this illegal?"

"Would you rather we lose our fine men over a pair of criminals? These women aren't afraid to pull the trigger and kill, they enjoy it. That is why they are useful."

"But sir... what if one of them decides to run or turn against us?"

The chief pulled out the small remote from earlier, "Their collars are rigged with a remote explosive. Escape is impossible."

"Who are they?" the officer questioned.

The chief took a deep breath and began to explain, "The one with blue hair is Sonoda Umi. She was a hired killer who took jobs not only for the money, but the sheer joy of killing. Her preferred firearms are sniper rifles and pistols, something reliable and accurate. Her gunmanship is unmatched to anyone in our police force."

He took another breath before moving on, "The one with red hair is Nishikino Maki. She was once a stage actress that performed in many theatre performances and musicals. She lost her mental stability and went on a psychotic rampage while on stage one night and killed numerous amounts of fellow actors and audience members. She is highly skilled in CQC and prefers to kill with knives. She seeks pleasure from doing so."

The chief looked into the officer's eyes, "Together they make up the Rabbit Panther Unit. A tag team of criminals doing the dirty work of the police force."

* * *

The two girls sat together in the helicopter, checking over their equipment.

Umi glanced up at Maki, "I have a plan."

"Storm the building and kill them on sight?" Maki replied.

"No, even if we succeed with that tactic, a hostage will surely die and we'll end up lying on the ground with no head."

Maki frowned, "These restrictions suck."

"When we land, I'll enter from the top. I want you to enter through the back entrance after I start a distraction." Umi explained.

"And I can kill them right?" Maki asked.

"Just make sure they aren't the hostages," Umi replied.

Maki danced in her seat, "It's been so long since we've left the cage, I'm excited."

Umi looked out through the helicopter window, "I am too..."

The helicopter came to a stop and hovered over the building, it lowered down until the pair could jump off. Umi looked at Maki and pointed to the ladder leading down, she nodded and followed Umi's order.

Maki made her way down the ladder and propped up against the wall next to the back door. She looked up to see Umi's head sticking out and put a thumbs up.

Umi got up and pulled a small pistol from her holster, she grabbed the silencer and started twisting until it came off. She stuffed it in her pocket before she entered the building.

"Psst, Umi? What's taking you so long?" Umi heard from the radio in her ear.

"I'm almost in position, calm down," Umi replied.

"My fingers are itching to kill," Maki said.

Umi shook her head and reached the second floor, "Okay, are you ready?"

"I'm dying here," Maki replied.

Umi reached into her pocket and pulled out the suppressor she removed earlier. She chucked it down the staircase to create a loud noise.

"Hey did you hear that?!" yelled a guy.

"I'm going to go check it out, watch my back!" another guy yelled.

Umi waited at the top of the staircase silently until her targets were in sight.

"I see nothing here, man," one of the guys said.

"Let's head back before the boss gets mad," the other one suggested.

Umi sprung out of cover and pulled the trigger twice. The gunshots echoed throughout the building and the two men were on the ground in an instant and the rest of the hostiles went into full alert.

"Hey did you hear that?!" they yelled.

"We're being attacked, keep your guard up!" a man screamed.

Maki listened closely for footsteps around the back door. They shuffled around until she couldn't hear them and took the chance to sneak in.

"Of course YOU get to have all the fun, Umi..." Maki stayed low and approached the doorway to the main room. A man walked by with his back turned to her.

Maki smirked and reached into her pocket for a small knife, "Kill number one..." she lunged at the man and put him in a chokehold. She held the knife to his neck, "How many of you are here?"

"Let go of me, bitch!" The man struggled against Maki's surprising strength.

"Ooo... that is not what I wanted to hear," Maki brought the knife up to his eye, "Now I'm going to ask again, and you better be a good boy... How many?"

"You're going to regret this, bitc-"

Maki thrusted the knife into the man's eye and covered his mouth to muffle his screams.

"Oops, I didn't hear what you said, can you repeat that?"

"Y-you're fucking crazy!"

Maki hovered the bloodied knife over to his other eye, "I'm going to count to three..."

"T-there are 7 of us!" he finally answered.

Maki smiled, "Good boy!"

She stabbed the knife into his neck until he stopped moving and brought her hand up to her ear, "Umi, there are total of 7 hostiles..." she looked down and corrected herself, "6 now."

"I took out two so there are 4 left," Umi replied.

"I'm moving in," Maki cut off her radio and snuck into the main room. She spotted many of the hostages huddled into a corner. She glanced around and saw two of them standing guard.

"I see two of them by the hostages, the other two must be headed your way," Maki reported into her radio.

"I'll keep them busy, you handle the other ones however you want."

"Thanks Umi," Maki cut off the radio again and returned to the guy she had just killed. She dragged his body into a room and started taking off her own gear. Everything was taken off except for her knife which she kept hidden. She reached down with her hand to pick up some of the dust on the floor to dirty herself. She then messed up her hair and took a deep breath.

"Time for an A+ performance," Maki prepared herself. She walked to an empty room and closed the door behind her. She then took up a position in the middle of the room and faced the door. Maki sprinted towards the door slammed herself against it, letting out a shriek as she fell to the ground.

"What was that?! Did we miss a hostage?!" One of the men yelled and made his way towards Maki.

"Just as planned..." Maki acted like a panicking hostage.

"Hey!" The man ran through the doorway.

"Nooo!" Maki screamed and tried to crawl away.

"Get over here!" He reached for Maki's leg and pulled her.

"No! Let go!" Maki put up a fight until the man wrapped his arms around to restrain her.

"Calm down and you won't get hurt!" The man squeezed Maki.

Maki screamed one last time before she let go of the act, "You? Hurt me?"

"I could snap you right now," the man threatened.

"Hehe..." Maki giggled.

"What's so funn-"

Maki thrusted her knee into his stomach which caused the man to let go of her. He swung his arm to punch Maki but she was too quick for him. She ducked and kicked the man off of his feet. He crashed down and she quickly got on top of him. She pulled out her knife and held it against his neck.

"W-who are you?" The man asked.

Maki leaned down to whisper into his ear, "Panther," she pushed the knife into the man's neck and watched as his eyes rolled to the back of his head.

"Hey!"

Maki looked up and saw the other man standing at the doorway with his gun pointed at her.

"Whoops, I got caught," Maki dropped the knife and held her hands up.

"Get up!" The man commanded.

Maki did as she was told and she was guided over to where the hostages were. The man knocked Maki down, "Don't you dare move!" he kept his gun pointed at her.

* * *

Gunshots rung throughout the building, Umi was engaged in a firefight with the other two men. They were blindly firing at her, it was obvious that they were untrained with using firearms.

Umi waited until one of their heads poked out. As soon as one did, Umi was able to pick him off without a problem. The other man watched as his buddy died in front of him, "God damn it! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

He jumped out of cover and started firing in Umi's direction. She waited until he had to reload and she took him out easily.

Umi stood up and dusted herself off, "I thought they would be more challenging." She walked over to the bodies and threw one of them over her shoulder. She dragged the other body and rolled it down the stairs to join the other two.

She reached the bottom of the stairs and dropped the one that she was carrying on top if the pile. Umi peeked through the doorway and spotted the last man pointing his gun towards the hostages. She looked down to see Maki who made quick eye contact with Umi.

The man noticed Maki looking away and turned to face where she was looking. The man spotted Umi and raised his gun, "HEY!" he fired his gun and Umi dove out of the way.

He rushed over and lifted Maki to her feet, he wrapped his arm around her neck and pushed the barrel of his gun against her head, "Give up or I'll shoot this girl!"

Umi slowly stepped out of cover and raised her hands.

"Good… now drop the weapon slowly," he pointed his gun back at Umi.

Umi did as he said and slowly put her gun on the ground.

"Kick it over here," he demanded.

Umi kicked the gun forward and it hit Maki's foot. The man looked at the pistol and smiled, "Good… now die!"

He pulled the trigger and fired off a few rounds, Umi jumped to the side and faked a cry of pain. The man laughed, "Not so tough without a gun, huh?!" He kept a tight grip on Maki and approached the "wounded" Umi.

Maki and the man stood over her and he pointed his gun at her face, "It's a shame that I have to kill a pretty girl like you." He pulled the trigger but a clicking noise came out instead of a bullet. "What the hell? Is it jammed?"

He slightly loosened his grip on Maki to check his gun. Maki took the chance and grabbed the man's arm, she lifted him over her shoulder and slammed him onto the ground. Umi knelt up and caught the weapon that he dropped during the throw. She disassembled the weapon quickly and got up to get her pistol.

Maki kept the man on the ground until Umi returned with her gun.

The man felt Maki flip him over and his eyes widened. When he saw the two of them standing over him, he didn't see them as women. They were monsters. Both of them smiling at his defeat.

"Hey, can I kill him? Can I? You've already killed four of them," Maki asked.

Umi shrugged and nodded, "I guess it's only fair."

"Keep him down, I have to go get my knife," Maki got up and skipped to the knife she had dropped earlier. Umi kept an eye on him until Maki returned.

Maki sat on top of the man and licked her knife, "Do you know what they call us?" she asked.

The man shook his head, he was overcome with fear and couldn't talk back even if he wanted to.

"We're the Rabbit Panther Unit…" Umi said.

"Do you know why they call me Panther?" Maki continued as she played with the knife in her hands, "Because I like to rip my prey apart." She held the knife up to his neck and smiled sadistically.

"I'll go take care of the hostages. Tell me when you're done," Umi turned her back and left Maki alone.

"No! Please help me! I won't ever commit crimes again! Please spare me, Officers!" the man yelled desperately.

"We're not officers," Maki leaned in closer to the man's face, "We're criminals just like you."

Umi walked away and listened to the man scream in pain from Maki's "fun". She knelt next to the hostages and untied them, "Get out of here," she commanded.

They did as they were told and evacuated the building. Umi stood up and called out to Maki, "Hey, are you done?"

"Almost!" she replied back. She stabbed her knife into the man one more time before leaning back, "Whew…" she wiped the blood off of her face and smiled at Umi.

"Had enough fun?" Umi asked.

Maki nodded happily and got up. She pulled the knife out of the man and wiped it clean before putting it back in it's holster.

"Let's hurry and get out of here before reporters spot us," Umi said.

Maki hurried back to where she left her gear and put it on. She came back out and hugged on to Umi as they walked back up to the roof.

"Hey, how did I do, Umi?" Maki asked like a little puppy.

Umi pet her head and smiled, "You were great."

Maki smiled back and kissed Umi's cheek.

There was a helicopter there waiting for them. The man signaled for them to get on and they did as they were told. The helicopter lifted into the air and was en route back to the police station.

The helicopter landed shortly after and the two were escorted off of the helipad. The chief was waiting with a team of officers which lead the two girls back into their room. They unpacked their gear and placed it back into the case from earlier. One of the guards picked it up and left the room.

"I call taking a shower first!" Maki yelled, "Unless you want to join too, Umi."

"Sure, why not…" Umi replied.

The two girls entered their small bathroom and undressed.

"You've got blood all over you, Maki," Umi pointed out.

Maki stood under the shower and turned it on, "Help me wash it off?"

Umi stood behind Maki and helped her clean off the blood on her body, "I wonder when we'll be let out of the cage again..." Maki muttered.

Umi shrugged, "I don't know, it's up to the readers."


	2. Drug Bust

Maki laid on her bed reading an old magazine while kicking her feet in the air. It had been a few months since the two of them had left the cage so the cabin fever was starting to drive Maki crazier than she already was, "Hey Umi...?

"What is it?" she sat at her desk as usual. The only things that were on Umi's desk was a laptop, a notebook and a picture of her and Maki. Every now and then, she would glimpse at the portrait and wonder why she keeps something like it as sentiment.

"I'm bored..." Maki groaned and stretched out across her bed, tossing the old magazine across the room and into a recycling bin.

* * *

"What do you want me to do about it?" she refused to pay Maki a certain level of attention because she already knew what Maki would say. She has been acting up like this for the past week and some time outside of the cage would really do them some good.

"I don't know," Maki curled herself up in a blanket and rolled around on the bed as she answered.

"Then stay bored." Umi shot down Maki's shallow attempts at an answer and went back to focusing on her laptop.

Maki sat up and barked back at Umi, "Hey at least try to sound like you care!"

"I don't know how I could relieve you of your boredom," she answered back calmly with a distasteful tone.

Maki rocked back and forth while she sat on her bed with her legs crossed. She thought to herself for several seconds before she let a gasp escape through her lips and snapped her fingers, "Let's watch a movie together or something and cuddle."

"I'd rather not." Maki's proposal was immediately shot down.

"Aww, please Umi? Please please pleeeeease," Maki started to get into her habit of constantly repeating the phrase in a childish and annoying way.

Umi's eyebrows furrowed and she knew where this would end up going. Maki always got her way, but that was only because Umi didn't have the patience to deal with her. She sighed and got up from her seat, "If it will shut you up, fine."

Maki swung her arms up into the air in celebration and cheered, "Yaaaay, you didn't threaten to kill me this time!"

Umi shook her head, "You're better fighter in this situation," she knew that if the two of them ever got into a serious fight, Maki could easily overpower and injure her.

Maki thrusted her chin forward in a cocky manner and smirked, "True."

"What do you want to watch?" Umi knelt down and opened a cabinet to reveal a wide assortment of DVDs. She insisted on Chief giving them a streaming service, but he would refuse and drop a bag of these every month.

"Hmm... Something scary and very bloody?" Maki poked around in her head for a movie that she may want to watch.

Umi pulled out a DVD and presented it to Maki,"How about this?" the cover of the case read, 'Kill Joy'

"But I've seen that one so many times and I'm tired of it," Maki complained when she saw the case. She's been watching that movie over and over again for the past few months and she honestly felt like if she were to watch it again, she would have to cut her eyes out.

"What are you talking about? It's your favorite, you love this movie to death," Umi tossed the DVD over to Maki.

She caught it and tossed it to the side, "Don't we have anything else?"

"I'm pretty sure you've watched everything the Chief gave us for this month," Umi traced along the DVD cases to see if she could spot any that were still in their shrink wraps.

"This sucks..." Maki blurted out.

Umi closed the DVD cabinet and sat on her bed across from Maki, "Don't complain to me."

She threw her hands up to the back of her head and leaned against the wall, "I'm not, I just wish Chief would let us out for one free day."

"What would you even do?" Umi questioned.

She shrugged in response, "Well normally I would like to kill something, but if I do," Maki closed one eye and used her hands to imitate a giant explosion, "pop goes the tomato."

Umi looked at her disapprovingly "Don't you want to do normal things?"

"Of course! I'm not THAT insane, we could watch a new movie and go on a date if we had a free day," Maki defended herself with some normal activities for a change. Although most people see her as a deranged killer, which she is, Maki can do normal things just like anyone else.

"A date, huh?" Umi pondered the thought in her head.

Maki sat up straight and leaned in closer to speak with Umi, "I know this great restaurant that we can go to."

Umi thought back to the last time she had professionally prepared food before ending up here, "That doesn't sound too bad."

"Of course it doesn't! To compare it to the food we get here would be an insult to humanity," Maki boasted about the restaurant as if it were her own.

"I'll leave him a message then," Umi got off her bed and walked over to an intercom located near the "entrance" of their room.

"Oooo~ Let me help!" Maki scrambled to her feet and joined Umi by the intercom.

They pressed the button together and Umi spoke up first, "Chief, we have a request,"

"Can we have a free day?" Maki said suddenly without Umi's permission.

There was a long silence before a masculine voice came out of the speakers, "How did this come up?"

"I want to go on a date with Umi," Maki excitedly proclaimed.

"I can't allow you two to walk free in public for a day," the chief smacked down their request without a thought.

Maki frowned, "I won't kill anybody, I promise!"

"Her intentions are innocent," Umi defended.

"Please, Chief. We've done everything you've asked us to do and never failed," Maki tried her best to bargain with him.

The chief sighed before answering with an obvious response, "That's because you have no other choice but to."

"It's been months since you last let us out of the cage, some fresh air would be good for us," Umi tried to reason with the chief. She did believe that getting fresh air would be beneficial for their mental and physical health.

"You two are stubborn..." the chief let out an exhausted sigh.

"Come on, Chief. Pleeeeeeeeeeeease!" Maki leaned in closer and begged as if it would actually be effective.

The intercom remained silent for several seconds before they heard a heavy sigh, "Fine! However, you must fulfill one condition before your free day."

"Yes yes yes!" Maki ran off and danced around the room in celebration.

Umj remained calm and stayed by the intercom, "What do we have to do?"

The chief took a deep breath before he started explaining, "One of our drug busts have gone south and we lost an entire squad of undercover men, I want you two to eliminate the targets and secure the drugs."

"Oh my god, Umi, we get to go out twice!" She latched on to Umi's shoulders and cheered.

"I'll be down to bring you your gear soon," the intercom shut off and the two women walked over to Maki's bed. She clung onto Umi and sat them down next to each other.

"You can let go, you know," Umi tugged gently.

Maki hugged her arm tighter, "Don't wanna, I'm too happy to let go."

Umi brought her hand up to pet the girl, "Let's do our best, huh?"

Maki nodded and smiled brightly. She got comfortable and leaned her head against Umi's arm until the entrance opened.

The chief walked in with his usual squad of guards and tossed in the large case with their gear in it, "Your targets are hidden in an old glass factory just outside of the city by the docks. There are two entrances which are heavily guarded and we have no fix on where the drugs are," he started to explain.

Maki got up and tugged Umi's arm towards the keyboard sized case.

"Your job is to infiltrate the factory, eliminate any threats by any means necessary and secure the drugs." He finished his debrief and walked off, "A helicopter is waiting on the roof to drop you off near the factory."

Maki opened up the case and started getting her gear together. Umi did the same and looked over at Maki, her smile was large and for some reason it put Umi at ease. Then again, she would be lying if she said she wasn't a little excited herself. It's been months since that hostage situation and Umi's hands have been itching to pull a trigger.

"I'm ready to go! I'll race you to the chopper," Maki sped off and left Umi in the dust. She quickly stopped and turned around to see that Umi had just gotten up, "You're no fun sometimes..."

"There's no law saying that I have to," Umi replied.

"Even if there was, you'd break it anyways," Maki smirked at her snarky remark.

"You're right about that," Umi swung a rifle over her shoulders and caught up with Maki. The two began their ascent to the helicopter as Maki ran her mouth off about what they would do on their day off.

"We can go shopping, eat at that restaurant, go watch that new horror movie that we've been seeing ads of, and maybe even a walk in the park or-" Maki was cut off when Umi brought her hand up.

"We'll discuss it when we get back," They reached the helipad and climbed on. It lifted off into the air in a few seconds and headed off to their destination.

* * *

The helicopter slowly came to a stop and hovered slightly off the ground so the two girls could get off. The drop point was a few blocks away from the area but they could make it there easily without being spotted by the enemy or civilians.

"Let's make this quick," Umi grabbed a hold of her rifle and checked the chamber to see if it was ready and loaded. She made sure to check the clip to see if she had enough ammo for the attack. It was a bolt action rifle with an 8 round clip.

Maki checked her pistol in the same fashion and inspected her favorite knife, "I want that date, how about we make a bet?"

"What kind?" Umi made her way towards a ladder and Maki followed.

"Whoever kills the most enemies has to give the other a full body massage," Maki gave her a rather seductive look.

Umi raised her eyebrow in question, "Why a fully body massage?"

"I like your hands," Maki glanced at Umi's hands and poked at them.

Umi pulled her hands away and spoke up, "You haven't won yet, if I win, you have to stay quiet for a whole day."

"Hey! Don't make it sound like I never shut up!" Maki stamped on the ground in reaction to Umi's proposal.

Umi wore a smug look on her face when they made eye contact, "Then you better beat me,"

Maki's eyes showed a fire burning in them, she was determined to win, "I'll show you... And I'll make you massage everything... EVERYTHING!"

The two smirked at each other with determination to win the bet.

"Same plan, I'll attack from the top, you sneak from the bottom," Umi started climbing up the ladder left Maki standing there.

"I wonder if you're a bottom," Maki called out of the blue.

Umi looked back down and shook her head, "Not now, idiot."

"I love you too," Maki blew a kiss and started jogging for the nearest entrance.

When Umi reached the top of the building, she stepped quietly to make sure the metal roofing underneath her feet didn't echo across. When she spotted a skylight, she made her way to it and glanced down.

She spotted numerous people inside of the factory, just from her position alone she spotted maybe 12 people standing around the main floor, "Hey Maki, I spotted 12 people so far in the main floor, I'm not sure if there are any others."

She waited until she got a response, "I'm about to infiltrate, I'll handle what you don't see."

Umi nodded to herself and looked around, there was a layer of sheet metal laying on the roof. Perhaps it had been left over when the factory was abandoned, but it was perfect for what Umi had in mind. She set down her rifle and carefully walked over to pick it up, afterwards she made her way back and laid it down. Umi took her place on top of it and was ready to begin her attack.

She looked into the scope and fixed it's crosshairs on an enemy that looked to be isolated from the rest. She pulled the trigger and watched through the scope as the man flew back and died before he hit the ground.

No enemies were alerted thanks to the suppressor that she had on her rifle. She maybe had another 20 shots until it would be rendered useless. She waited until another target popped up and picked him off.

10 people remained in her line of sight and she set the crosshairs on another target that was on the catwalk. She shot and added another kill to her list. The man she had just killed was blown back so far by the shot that he flipped over the railing and crashed to the ground. This caused everyone in the room to go into high alert.

"We've got a man down! Check your surroundings!" one of them yelled. He ran over to check on the body and noticed the bullet wound on his head, "Eyes out everybody! It looks like we have an enemy snip-"

The man's speech was cut off as he slumped to the ground from Umi's bullet. The entire factory went into full alert, "A lot of our guys are down! Find the bastard that did this and kill them!"

Umi picked off more of them one by one as they scrambled around in search of her. She used all 8 of her bullets and retreated from the skyline to reload.

Maki listened to the chaos that Umi brought upon the factory. She could hear two people talking by the door, guards most likely. She braced herself and pulled out her knife. She reached for the handle and used her shoulder to forcefully smash her way into the guards. She trapped one of them against the wall and used the door as leverage to push herself forward and cut the other guard's neck with her knife.

She jumped forward and let the handle go. The guard that was trapped before fell down and Maki took the chance to drive the knife into the back of his neck.

"Hey did you hear that? It came from the back entrance!"

Maki looked up and saw an open ventilation shaft. She kicked herself up from wall to wall and climbed in before she could be spotted. She waited until a guard came in sight, "We got two guys down over here! Send backup!"

Maki pounced from the ventilation shaft and wrapped her arms around the man's neck, "What the hell?! Let go of m-"

Maki flexed her arms and twisted them in opposite directions. The man's neck snapped like a twig and the both of them fell to the ground.

"Hey, what the hell?!"

Maki turned around to see another guard and she quickly grabbed her knife. The guard had a split second to react before Maki tossed the knife that stabbed into his shoulder. He was thrown off balance by the knife and by the time he looked back she jumped at him. She wrapped her legs around his head and twisted her hips until she heard a cracking sound.

The man fell back and Maki pulled the knife out of his shoulder. She placed her finger inside the hole at the end of the handle and swung it around in circles, "Still got it..." she looked back to inspect her work and smiled.

"I better hurry up if I want to win," she holstered her knife and pulled out her pistol. She rushed down the hallway and turned the corner only to feel a fist crush against her cheek.

She fell to the ground and rubbed it, "Jesus christ that hurt like hell!" Maki got up to see two large men in front of her and pointed her pistol at them.

"What the hell is a tiny girl doing here?" one of them boasted.

"Put that gun down, sweetheart. You wouldn't want to hurt yourself," one of the men stepped in closer and Maki brought the gun up to her head.

"What do you think you're doing?!" one of them yelled.

"Grab that thing from her!" the other instructed.

One of the men lunged forward and grabbed Maki's arm just like she wanted. Now that she was close enough she thrusted her hand up and smashed the man's jaw with her palm.

He stumbled back and let go of Maki's firing hand. She reached for his arm and flipped him over, stuffing the pistol's barrel against his cheek and firing it, "I'm sorry 'sweetheart', just returning the favor."

The other man screamed and rushed towards Maki, he swung his arms out and attempted to grab her. She jumped to roll off the man's back and swept his legs. He came crashing to the ground and Maki walked over to him. She stepped on his throat, "How many?"

"W-what?"

"How many are here?!" Maki added pressure onto the man's throat.

"I'm not telling you anything!"

"Talk or I'll crush your larynx!" Maki threatened and added enough pressure to strike fear into the man.

"T-thirty of us! There are thirty!"

"Thank you," Maki lifted her foot off of the man's throat and watched as his face showed relief. She brought up her handgun and the man's face was back to fear, "I didn't say I wouldn't shoot you."

"Y-You're a monster!"

"I'm not such a sweetheart anymore, huh?" she smiled and pulled the trigger.

Maki walked off and radioed Umi, "Just got someone to talk, there are 30 of them."

"How many have you killed?"

"Hmm... 2... 4... 6! I killed six so far," Maki answered proudly.

Umi smirked to herself, "I'm at 8."

Maki frowned and yelled into her mic, "Well you can take that 8 and shove it up your butt! I'm winning this bet!" she tore out her earpiece to focus.

"Okay if there were 30, I just have to count to 16 kills and I win."

Umi reloaded her rifle and resumed her attack from above. She killed two more enemies until one of them noticed her shadow on the ground.

"The sniper is on the roof by the skylight!"

Umi scrambled to shoot one more but only got his arm. The rest of the enemies in the building pointed their guns up at Umi's sniper nest and started firing a hailstorm of bullets. She took cover and felt as the sheet metal she placed under her vibrate intensely.

Her predictions were right and the sheet metal protected her from harm. The roof's metal was too thin to stop a bullet so if she didn't have this sheet of metal, she could have gotten injured or died. She waited until they had to reload before she stuck her rifle out and began her attack again, she picked off more enemies but it was more difficult now that they knew where she was.

Maki snuck down the hallway quickly and took out any of the guards that stood in her way. She reached a doorway and peeked inside to see a few guards huddled around a crate, "This must be the drug room..." she snuck in carefully and hid behind a box.

"Let's see... how am I going to do this?" Maki looked around and spotted a glass bottle. She smirked, "Perfect..."

She held the bottle in her other hand and tossed it up and down gently, "Let's hope this works."

Maki chucked the glass bottle into the air towards the middle of the guards. She aimed her handgun and shot the glass bottle which exploded and created a small grenade like impact. The glass shards flew outwards from the force of the bullet and blinded the guards as they held their faces in pain.

Maki stood up and smiled sadistically, "That worked better than expected." She held her handgun up and swiftly took down the injured guards. She skipped her way over the dead bodies and opened up the large crate, it showed nothing but a bunch of packing peanuts, "Where are the drugs?"

Maki lifted up the crate and poured all of it's contents on the ground. She spotted a medium sized package and picked it up, "Is this it?" she looked back and forth between the now empty crate and the package, "Why was this the only thing in the crate?"

She thought on it for a few more moments before shrugging and stuffing it into a small bag she pulled out from her pocket, "Okay so with everyone I've killed including these three, that puts me to 14. I just need 2 more to beat Umi!" Maki psyched herself up and quickly left the room.

It took her some time, but Umi was able to pick off her enemies one by one. She was up to 13 kills now and if she could kill everyone left in the room, she would be blessed with a day of silence from Maki. She retreated to reload her rifle and came back to see that the man she set her eyes on was already dead.

She looked into her scope and saw a head with red hair slightly poking out, "Maki's already here?" Umi scanned the floor for any other enemies. She spotted two making a break for cover and picked one of them off while the other made it to temporary safety.

Maki was ahead by one kill and if Umi can't get this last one, Maki will win the bet. She waited until the target stuck his head out but he refused to. He blindly fired out of cover and forced Umi to retreat from the skylight until he stopped.

By the time she got herself set up again, she saw Maki sneaking towards the man with her knife ready. He popped out of cover and started firing at her, she was able to get a shot off but it barely missed his head and hit his shoulder instead. It wasn't something fatal enough to kill him, "Shit..." Umi cursed under her breath and admitted defeat.

Maki walked up to the injured man and swung her knife around her finger, "Hey buddy!" she smiled sadistically at him.

He started to scream and beg for his life, "Please, spare me!"

"Oh no, I can't do that," Maki knelt down next to him, "I made a bet."

"A bet?"

"Yep," Maki licked her knife, "A bet to see who could kill the most here."

"M-most kills?! You're crazy!" he yelled.

"I prefer psychotic, it rolls off the tongue nicely," Maki held her blade up to the man's face and smiled.

"Do you want to know how I got this knife?" Maki presented it to him and laughed, "I feel like monologuing so you have no choice but to listen!"

She sat on top of the man and held the blade close to him, "Are you familiar with this type of knife? It is a Karambit, I'm sure that you know much about it from pop culture. Other than it being aesthetically pleasing to most eyes, it is an easy to conceal weapon and gets the job done."

She glided the knife across the man's face and watched his eyes follow it in fear, "A special woman gave me this knife, the one you were shooting at just now. She said that she didn't need it so she gave it to me and I've been holding onto it ever since."

Maki leaned in closer, "She said that this knife was perfect for me, and do you want to know why?"

She didn't wait for an answer, "Because these knives are believed to be inspired by the claws of big cats."

"W-why does that even matter?" the man finally spoke up and his voice cracked.

"Because they call me Panther," Maki brought up the knife and stabbed it into the man's throat. She watched the life disappear from his eyes and stretched to let out a satisfied groan. She wrapped her hands around the handle and pulled the knife out, using his shirt to clean up the blood on it.

"Come on, let's get going," Umi appeared behind her and it made Maki jump.

"Ahhh! Don't scare me like that! I almost threw my knife at you," Maki stood up and pouted.

"It would have been easy to dodge," she replied.

"Yeah for you, but still!" Maki yelled back.

"Let's hurry back," Umi walked off without Maki.

"Hey Umi, wait! Don't be sour just because you lost the bet," Maki scrambled to catch up with her.

"I'm not, let's leave already," the two made their way out of the factory and headed towards the drop point from earlier.

"Umi look," Maki presented a bag, "Ta-da! I got the drugs!"

"Good job."

Maki pouted, "Umi... Are you mad that you lost?"

She shook her head, "No, I'm fine."

"Will you still give me the massage?" Maki asked shyly. She didn't want to push on Umi's nerves more than she might already have.

"Yeah, after we shower," Umi replied.

* * *

The helicopter was already waiting for them when they arrived and they were on their way back to the cage. The two watched each other from opposite sides of the helicopter in silence, "So I was thinking about how I want the massage…"

"Full body, just like you said," Umi replied.

"Can I have a happy ending?" Maki joked at her with a hint of blush.

"Only if you stay quiet during the whole thing," Umi answered.

Maki's eyes lit up and she sat up straight, "Wait! Really?!"

"Of course not," she quickly denied Maki's hopes.

The light from Maki's eyes quickly disappeared and she pouted, "That was mean, Umi!"

"Anyways, isn't that bag a little too small for the drugs?" Umi pointed over to Maki's side where the bag laid.

"One pack was all I found. It was in this large crate and it made no sense," Maki explained.

"That's odd…" Umi thought about it for a moment, "It must be some very valuable stuff."

Maki made a sound with her mouth, "It'd better be, this was guarded by 3 guys and was hidden inside a crate full of packing peanuts."

Umi held out her hand, "Let me see it."

Maki reached for the bag and presented it, "It pretty much looks like a generic package of illegal drugs. Wrapped in paper and taped just like on TV," she pulled it out to show Umi.

"I see..." Umi remained silent and picked up on something with her ears. She looked around the helicopter, "Hey Maki, do you hear that?"

She cocked her head, "Hear what?"

Umi couldn't put her finger on it, "It's like... a soft beeping noise."

Maki shrugged, "I don't hear anything, maybe it's just the pilot controls?"

"No, this sounds different," Umi looked around and her eyes fell onto the drug package Maki was holding. She grabbed it from her hands and held it up to her ear, Umi heard a faint beeping from inside, "Maki! Open the door!"

"What? Why?" she was caught off guard and remained still.

Umi had no time for questions and yelled, "Just do it!"

Maki scrambled for the latch and swung the door open. Umi quickly tossed the package and got up to shield Maki. It fell a few meters before detonating and sent the helicopter into heavy turbulence. Umi could feel the heat of the explosion singe the back of her clothes and skin. She held on tight as the helicopter swung back and forth trying to regain its orientation.

"Umi?!" Maki yelled in all of the confusion.

"Just stay down, Maki!" she tried desperately to cling onto the railing of the helicopter so she wouldn't go flying out the door.

Maki wrapped her arms around Umi's waist and held her tightly, "I've got you!"

She kept her grip on Umi until the helicopter slowly returned to its original orientation. She let go and Umi took a seat next to her, letting out a deep breath.

"Are you okay, Umi?!" Maki undid her seat belt and knelt in front of the girl. She patted around her body and turned her around, "Your back is all burned!"

"I'm fine, Maki, don't worry about me," she turned herself back to face her.

"Like hell I'm not going to worry, the second we land I'm taking you to the infirmary!" Maki held onto Umi's shoulders.

"I'll be fine! Some antiseptic and bandages will be enough and we have those right here in the first aid box," she replied back and pointed to the side.

"Well turn around then!" Maki demanded. She reached for the first aid kit and unlocked it to pull out some bandages, rubbing alcohol and gauze. She waited until Umi turned around before pouring the rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball. She carefully touched one of the burns with it and Umi flinched in pain.

"I'm sorry! Just bare with it, please," Maki continued to clean Umi's burn wounds. Every time she made contact with the rubbing alcohol, she could see Umi's muscles flex in response to the pain. She hurried up and cleaned all of the wounds before placing bandages over them.

"Okay lift up your shirt a little..." Umi did as she was told and Maki started wrapping the gauze around her body until the bandages were secured from falling off.

"We're done..." she packed up the items into the first aid kit and placed it back where it was.

"Thanks, Maki," Umi turned around to face her and bowed.

"No, it's my fault. I didn't know I picked up an explosive..." Maki hung her head and started to cry.

"Hey why are you crying?" Umi lifted up her chin and wiped away her tears.

"I almost got you killed," Maki muttered.

"We both would have died," Umi replied.

"That's not my point here!" Maki yelled back and Umi retreated to collect her words carefully.

"Look Maki... There was no way you could have known it was an explosive. The chief told us that we were to secure the drugs and you made a logical decision," she explained. It seemed that her words started to calm Maki down, but not entirely.

"Plus, I'm all better now that you fixed me up," she patted the sad girl's head and saw a smile come across her mouth.

"... I'm glad we're both alive..." Maki rested her head against Umi's shoulder and closed her eyes.

"Yeah... Me too..." Umi looked off to the side out the window. She remained silent and thought to herself, "If that package was an explosive... then where are the drugs? Was this just a setup to get the two of us killed? Or was the Chief unaware of this...?"

"Hey Umi...?"

Her train of thought came to a stop when she heard the voice next to her. She glanced down to meet the lavender colored eyes, "You don't have to massage me anymore if you don't want to."

"What? Are you that worried about me?" Umi tried to play it off casually. Maki nodded sheepishly and she sighed in response, "A bet is a commitment and I must honor it."

"But you're hurt because of me," Maki was being stubborn, but Umi could understand why.

"It doesn't hurt anymore, don't worry about it..." she observed Maki's face to see if her mood changed but it didn't, "... if you cheer up I'll give you the happy ending..."

"... You mean it this time?" Maki's words were barely audible. Umi nodded and felt Maki's hand grab hers tightly. It was hard to get Maki upset over something, so to see her thrown off like this forced Umi to change the way she acted around her.

They remained silent in each other's company until the helicopter landed. Once they stepped out they were surrounded by a team of guards and approached by the chief.

"Where are the drugs?"

Umi pointed past her shoulder with her thumb, "200 feet in the air and gone."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

Maki got in front of Umi and started yelling, "The damn thing was packed with explosives!"

"Were you trying to kill us?" Umi poked her head out from behind Maki to get her question out.

"You're too valuable to kill," the chief dismissed the suspicions halfheartedly

"Then how come we got explosives instead of drugs?!" Maki was trying her hardest to contain her anger, "The whole chopper almost went down!"

"I don't know, maybe they were moved elsewhere and that was just a decoy," he offered his insights.

Umi stepped forward to ask another question. "Why protect a decoy with 30 men?"

"I told you I don't know, now go back to the cage," he pointed towards the doorway and the guards surrounded them.

Maki gave the chief a dirty look, "We still get our day off right?"

"I'll inform you if you do," he replied.

Maki's fire lit up and she rushed at the chief. She grabbed his collar and lifted him up against the wall, "You bastard, we held up our end of the deal!" the guards surrounded Maki and raised their guns.

"Stand down," he held his hands up and the guards lowered their weapons as they were commanded.

"We eliminated everyone in that factory!" Maki continued to yell.

"But you did not secure the drugs," he replied.

"How're we supposed to know with your faulty intel network?!" Maki was furious, she didn't care about the drugs one bit. The two of them risked their lives to kill everyone on that factory and almost died from an explosion. She could feel her hands getting numb from her own strength and her teeth started to ache from having them chomped down so hard.

"Let go, Maki," she heard a cold and stern voice from behind her.

"But Umi!" Maki offered her objections but the glare from Umi's eyes were unsettling. She loosened her grip on the chief and let him down hard, "... Fine..."

The two started walking off and the chief followed, "I would like to remind you two of your place here, you're expendable, if you die, that is all. You have no connection to the police. We can just dismiss it as you escaping prison and dying outside of it."

Maki opened her mouth to talk back but it was quickly covered by Umi. The two made eye contact and Umi shook her head. Maki looked towards the ground and frowned in response. Her hands clenched into a fist and her fingernails dug against her palms, she was furious and wanted to get more words out of the chief, but Umi prevented her from doing so.

When they reached the cage, they took of their gear and were pushed inside forcefully, "Hey watch it! Her back is injured!" Maki raised her hand to attack but it was stopped by Umi. She looked back at her and lowered her fist, she didn't like the way they were treating them, not after today at least.

Umi pulled Maki into the cage and it closed shortly afterwards. Maki stared at her bandaged back and frowned, "That damn Chief... He isn't keeping his end of the deal."

"Lay down," Umi commanded.

"What? Why?" Maki was confused with Umi's command.

"Your massage," Umi turned around and motioned her hand towards Maki's bed.

"Can we take a shower first?" Maki began to pick up on the nasty odor of blood and sweat around herself and a tar like smell from Umi. She didn't wait for a reply from her and reached for her hand. She pulled the two of them into the bathroom and essentially forced Umi to shower, "Let me help you take off the bandages..."

She pushed Umi's arms up and started unwrapping the gauze from earlier. Her fair, pale skin and soft complexion was replaced with blistering red second degree burns and Maki cursed herself in her head. She carefully helped wash Umi's back, making sure to not damage her any further, "Are you okay?" she asked timidly.

"I'm fine, let me wash you now," the two switched sides and Maki became the one on the receiving end.

"Your back is worse than before..." Maki muttered.

"Don't worry about it." Umi focused her attention on cleaning Maki up.

"We're going to bandage you up again when we're done, got it?" She said with a forceful voice.

Umi nodded and finished washing up Maki. The two stepped out and dried off before Maki reached for the first aid kit under the sink. She did the same routine as before on the helicopter but instead applied burn cream. After a couple minutes, Umi was all bandaged up again.

The two made their way out into their living room and Maki forced Umi to sit next to her on her bed, "How are you going to sleep? Since you sleep on your back, wouldn't it hurt?"

"I can just sleep on my stomach, you're overreacting here," Umi replied.

"I can't help it, you're hurt..." Maki looked down at her hands.

Umi sighed quietly, the two of them still haven't changed into their clothing so they wore towels, "It's time for your massage," Umi pulled Maki's towel off and pushed her onto the bed.

"Wait! Umi, I said you didn't have to!" Maki forced herself up but Umi insisted.

"A bet is a bet, Maki. Let me do this," she managed to get Maki down on her stomach and sat on top of her.

"B-but!" Maki objected but Umi ignored.

She reached her hands down and glided them across Maki's fair colored soft skin. She pushed down and started massaging her back, there were many tight areas and knots but after a little massaging they became relaxed.

Minutes passed and the room was filled with nothing but Umi's breathing and Maki's slight moans from the massage, "That feels... amazing, Umi..."

She worked her way up to Maki's shoulders and released the tension in them. She continued down her arms and back up to her shoulders. Her hands glided down to Maki's sides and she massaged them gently, "A little more, Umi..."

She did as Maki told her and she reached to feel a soft sensation in her hands. They were Maki's breasts but Umi remained calm and massaged them gently. Small gasps and moans escaped Maki's lips and Umi reached lower.

She massaged Maki's hips and continued down her legs. They were long and slender, but easy to massage. She worked her way down the thighs, to the calves, then her feet.

"You missed a spot, Umi..." Maki called out tiredly.

"Where?" Umi thought she massaged everything.

Maki wiggled her butt in front of Umi.

"Really?" Umi tilted her head in question.

Maki nodded weakly and Umi just went with it. She placed her hands on Maki's rear and massaged them gently. Afterwards, she did one more massaging sweep across Maki's body, "There, we're done..."

Maki let out a yawn and stretched, "That felt too good..." she flipped over and stared up at Umi, "so... are you going to...?"

"Happy ending?" Umi finished Maki's sentence, and caused her blush and nod. Umi leaned in forward and kissed Maki's neck,

"Tonight, the Panther becomes the prey..."


	3. Date

Umi woke up the next morning to a sound coming from the intercom. She shook her head to wake herself and looked down to see Maki underneath her.

She remembered last night's "happy ending" and drew the connections as to why she ended up in this position. They had passed out shortly after reaching their limits together and that is how she ended waking up on top of Maki.

She pushed herself up with her arms and slowly got off of the red haired vixen. She placed the blankets back and stretched her neck around as she made her way to the intercom.

She placed her finger on the button and groaned, "What is it...?"

"It's about your free day," the chief answered.

Umi looked back at the wall clock, "Chief, it's 6 in the morning. Why are you bothering us this early, couldn't it wait until later?"

"You will be informed whenever I please," he replied.

"Maki isn't even awake yet..." Umi massaged the back of her neck and turned to look back at Maki sleeping peacefully in her bed.

"Your free day will start at 10am, be ready by then," the intercom shut off and Umi returned to her bed. She heard a shuffling noise and turned to see Maki shuffling around in her bed.

"10am? Why does he need to have us on a schedule for a free day...?" Umi sighed and laid down on her bed. She felt a sharp pain and quickly sat back up. She had forgotten about the blisters on her back from the burn yesterday, "I better change these and put on new ones..." Umi thought about it but decided to just lie on her belly, "I'll wait until Maki wakes up..."

Umi closed her eyes and 2 hours later she awoke from something nudging and pushing against her. She opened her eyes to see Maki putting away their first aid kit and yawned, "Morning, Maki."

"Hey Umi, I changed your bandages for you," Maki opened up the bottom cabinet and tossed the first aid kit inside.

Umi sat up and stretched herself out, then looked down to inspect Maki's first aid work, "Thank you..." she stood up and walked over to the kitchen, "The Chief gave us a call this morning."

"Really? At what time?" Maki replied.

Umi answered back, "6am"

Maki raised her brow, "Why the hell did he call so early?"

"He said it was about our free day," Umi answered.

Maki rested against the bathroom doorway and crossed her arms, "Really? Is that jerk going to give it to us?"

Umi nodded, "Yeah, but he said we have to be ready by 10am."

"Why is he giving us a schedule? Its called a free day for a reason," she raised her hands in question and shook her head.

Umi looked up at the clock, "I don't know, but it's almost time, we should get ready," she walked towards Maki and pushed her into the bathroom.

She went along with it and raised her hand, "I call having my back washed first!"

"Yeah yeah..." Umi gently pat her back and Maki gave her a cheeky grin. The two girls helped wash each other and enjoyed some time together in the bath before getting out.

"Ahh that felt great!" Maki stretched her arms out and let out a satisfied groan as the two of them walked out the bathroom.

The entrance to the cage slid open and the chief walked in, "Are you two ready yet?"

Maki jumped and covered herself up with her arms, "Ahh! Chief what the hell?! Knock before you enter!"

"Let us get changed," Umi demanded calmly.

Maki reached for the blanket on her bed and covered herself up, "And turn away, pervert,"

"I have no interest in your bodies, I'm here to give you a few items before you commence your, 'free day'..." he ignored Maki's request and pulled out a pair of earpieces for them

"An earpiece, why do we need this?" Maki approached him cautiously and grabbed one.

"So I can monitor you throughout the day, you will also be spending your time in a specific boundary of the city, if you pass it I will detonate your collars," he replied.

"Relax gramps, we're not going anywhere so long as we have these on us," Maki pointed to the collar on her neck and sighed.

"That is all, a car will be waiting at the front of the station to drop you two off," he turned to leave and disappeared up the stairs.

Maki let out a deep breath and dropped the blanket, "Sheesh, talk about uptight, we might be criminals but we at least honor our deals..."

"I'm done changing, how about you?" Umi was already finished changing by the time Maki dropped her blanket.

"I'm about t-" she turned around and felt her heart skip a beat, "Oh no... she's hot..." Maki screamed internally.

Maki took note of what she was wearing. She was wearing a blue dress shirt and the buttons near her collar were undone. Umi wore a tight mini skirt and leggings to cover up her skin.

"What's wrong? Shouldn't you get to changing?" Umi stared back with her eyebrow raised.

"Ahh umm... yeah give me a second," Maki rushed over to her drawer and pulled out numerous clothes, "I've got to have something here that matches..."

She dug some more and pulled out a long sleeved blue wool minidress, "Will this be good enough?" she slid it on and looked in the mirror.

Maki shook her head, "No it's missing something..." she reached for a sleeveless black jacket with some fur around the lining of the hood.

"That looks good," Umi popped into the mirror and caused Maki to jump.

"Y-you think so?" Maki fixed her hair like a blushing schoolgirl and waited for an answer.

Umi nodded, "Yeah, let's get going."

The two made their way up the stairs and Maki wrapped herself around Umi's arm. They walked out the front doors of the police station and saw a nice car waiting for the two of them.

A man stepped out and opened the door for Umi & Maki. They slid in and the car drove off at a steady speed until they reached the heart of the city. The car came to a stop and the two girls stepped out into a busy street full of people.

Maki took a deep breath and jumped forward with her arms up, "Sweet, sweet freedom!"

"Don't get too carried away," Umi wanted to keep Maki at a tamed level.

She grinned happily and quickly returned to Umi's side. She grabbed her arm and pulled it eagerly, "Hey hey! Let's go get some crepes!" Maki pointed towards a crepe stand at the corner of the street.

"Sure, why not," Umi shrugged and let Maki pull her along.

The two got in line and waited until it was their turn, "What are you going to get, Umi? I want the caramel cream one."

"I guess chocolate banana?" Umi replied after looking at the menu.

"Can I have a bite? I'll let you try mine too," Maki asked.

"I don't see why not," Umi replied.

Maki smiled and hugged Umi's arm tighter. When they reached the front, they ordered their crepes and made their way to a nearby bench. Maki took a bite out of her crepe and created an animated reaction to it. She brought her hand up to her cheek and squealed, "Mmm! This is what I live for! Can I try yours?"

Umi held out her crepe and Maki bit into it as if she were some small animal being fed, "Ooo~ Chocolate Banana is so gooood."

Umi watched Maki's face fill up with pure bliss before she held up her crepe to Umi's mouth, "Try mine!" Maki smiled and Umi took a small bite of the crepe.

She chewed slowly to savor the flavor, "How is it?"

"Pretty good, I suppose," Umi replied.

"I love crepes~" Maki cheered and returned to stuffing her face with it. When the two finished, they tossed out their trash and walked together down the busy street.

Maki let out a gasp and once again tugged on Umi's arm while pointing at something, "Hey Umi, let's go watch that new scary movie, Goregasm!"

"Yeah yeah I'm coming," Umi continued to let Maki drag her around.

After the movie, Maki dragged Umi to the restaurant that she talked about yesterday they ordered some food and Maki held up her spoon, "Umi say 'Ahhh!'"

"Ahhh" she opened her mouth and let Maki feed her. She chewed on the food to savor it.

Maki giggled, "Hehe how is it?"

"It's good," Umi replied.

Maki smiled and leaned forward to continue eating her food, "Right? I told you this place was amazing!"

Just as she was about to dig in, Maki heard a static noise in her ear and stopped, "Rabbit, Panther, come in."

"What the hell do you want chief? We're just having a date like a normal couple," Maki was irritated that the chief had to keep such a tight leash on them and he was interrupting their date.

"I need you two to take care of an emergency," he responded.

"I'm afraid you don't know what a free day means, Chief," Maki slammed her fork down and sat back against her chair.

She suddenly felt a strong shock around her neck and she let out a screech in pain,"Ahhh!" the shocking continued for another few seconds before it came to a stop. Maki leaned over the table and struggled to catch her breath, "What the hell was that for?"

"You forget who governs your life here," he replied.

"Leave her alone, Chief. What do you need?" Umi's voice remained strong knowing that she could end up getting shocked like Maki just now.

"There is a dangerous criminal who has been causing trouble for us the past few months near your location, take care of it," he demanded.

"Where the hell are we supposed to find this criminal anyways?" Maki rubbed her neck around the collar to help relax her muscles from the shock.

A scream came from the other side of the restaurant, "THIS RAMEN IS TOO HOT!" a crashing sound followed soon after.

"Remember, failure is not an option," the connection to the earpiece was forcibly cut off.

Maki looked over Umi's shoulder to see a short orange haired girl stomping her way towards the person behind the counter, "I was told this was the best ramen in town!"

"I'm sorry miss, our waiter warned you about the heat and that you should have let it cool down before eating," the cashier tried to calm the woman, but it obviously wasn't working.

"I expect my ramen to be perfected! Do you think this is a game?!" the woman reached for the cashier's collar and lifted him up.

A man stood up and reached for the woman's shoulder, "I think that's enough."

"Huh?! Stay out of other people's business and keep eating your food!" she replied.

"I don't want this to turn ugly," the man replied. He towered over the woman by maybe an entire foot. He was built and if Maki had to place her bets on who would win in a fight, she would side with the man.

The woman let go of the cashier and took a step back, she shuffled with her feet as if she was a boxer and stuck her chin out, "Go ahead, hit me."

The man hesitated, "What are you trying at?"

"Nothing, I'm giving you a free hit, hot shot," the woman taunted him.

"Look, I'm not going to hit you," he replied.

"Aww, the big boy is too scared to hit a girl," she continued to provoke him.

"Listen lady..." Maki noticed the way the man clenched his fist, her taunting was working and it was going to get really ugly, really fast, "Can't say I didn't warn you..."

Maki watched as the man swung his fist forward. Her eyes widened when she saw that the woman dodge it easily using her footwork, "Hey Umi..."

"Yeah, I see it too..." she replied.

"Boy, you're slow! Missed me by a mile!" she continued to taunt. The man clenched his teeth and started swinging his fists some more which the woman continued to dodge with no effort.

"Her footwork is the same as Wing Chun," Maki whispered.

The man swung until he was out of breath and the woman walked over to pat his back, "My turn now."

Her stance switched entirely and she punched the man's side, sending him flying through a table, "Now it's Jeet Kune Do...?" Maki continued to observe.

The man shook himself off and rushed to grab the woman, her stance changed again and she used his momentum to swing him over her shoulder, "Now she's using Judo," Maki exclaimed.

"Quit making a fool out of me!" He got up and swung his leg for a kick. The woman raised her own leg and blocked it easily.

"Muay Thai? Who the hell is this woman?" Maki couldn't believe that this woman was switching her styles so quickly and effortlessly.

The woman grabbed the man's leg and brought her elbow down with enough force to crack his femur. He stumbled back and the woman ran up to use his other leg as leverage to propel herself upward and drive her knee into his face.

She sent the man who was larger and bulkier than her crashing to the ground with almost no effort. She stood above him and giggled, "Nice try, kid."

The man's group of friends quickly got up and surrounded the woman, Maki counted 5 of them.

"Oh, come on now? You're really going to gang up on a little girl like me?" She raised her arms up in question before laughing mischievously, "You should have brought more."

Maki watched as the woman got into a particular stance that caught her attention, she reached for Umi's shoulder, "Umi! We need to stop this now before someone dies."

"Keysi..." Umi muttered the single word and watched as the group of men began their attack.

The first man swung and the woman grabbed his arm as if it were childs play, she drove her elbow down and cracked the man's arm before using that same elbow to slam into his face. He fell back and held his arm in pain.

The next guy grabbed her from behind and she reached for a nearby fork, she stabbed it into his arm and drove her head back to headbutt him. When he was open for an attack, she closed the distance between them and attacked him swiftly across his entire upper body. He fell to the ground and she turned around to face the other three.

"Coming at me one at a time isn't going to work, boys," she announced.

The three remaining men looked at each other before surrounding her again and attacking all at once. She blocked all of their attacks and pushed outwards to disperse them. She rushed forward and punched one of the men in the gut and then proceeded to drive her knee into his face.

Another man threw a straight punch from behind which she dodged. She grabbed the arm that flew past her shoulder and used her other arm to elbow the side of the man's face. He stumbled back and the woman turned around to pull his arm in and crack it with her elbow. She threw him against a chair and looked at the last man standing.

"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" she taunted once again.

The last man screamed as he went in for a punch, but the woman spun away from it and crouched down. She drove her elbow into his stomach and the other against his knee. The man threw up the food he has just eaten and fell on top of it.

The woman stood back up and took a deep breath, "Now back to business," she stepped over the men writhing in pain and made her way back to the cashier, "I want a refund for the ramen."

"B-but we don't refun-" the man cut himself off with a yelp when he felt the woman's grip tighten.

"I will get that refun-" the woman felt a grip on her arm and turned to see that it was Maki, "Are you looking to pick a fight, hot stuff?"

"Let him go," Maki demanded.

"You know what's coming to you, right?" the woman dropped the cashier and swung her elbow towards Maki.

She quickly countered it with her own attack. It was ineffective and the two traded blows, "Hey, you're not bad."

Maki defended herself against the woman and tried to attack whenever an opportunity arose, "But you're not good enough."

The woman suddenly switched up her style again, but this time she was attacking much more aggressively. Every blow that Maki blocked would ache with pain and more hits started to land on her. The woman kicked Maki's stomach and she stumbled backwards. She took the chance to grab a nearby fork and lunged at Maki with intent to kill.

The fork was knocked out of her hand and she looked up to see Umi holding some silverware and tossing a knife in the air with her hand, "Krav Maga, I'm impressed."

The woman stood up, "You know it?"

"It's an Israeli fighting technique that focuses on ending fights quickly by attacking vulnerable spots," Umi answered.

Maki got up and retreated next to Umi, "She's the real deal, Umi..."

"So you two know each other?" The woman walked up to them and Maki took a defensive stance, "I'm impressed you were able to knock that fork out of my hand... Who are you two?"

"That is none of your concern," Umi answered back.

"I might just have to beat it out of you then," she replied.

The woman stepped forward before hearing police sirens blaring, "Crap... You two got lucky, next time we meet won't end so nicely," the woman quickly escaped the restaurant and the two of them followed her out the door.

"Rabbit! Panther! That's your target!" the volume of the chief's yelling caused them to hold their ears in pain.

"Are you serious?!" Maki replied.

"Yes! Hurry and capture the target!" he commanded.

A police car pulled up and the trunk opened, they took a look inside to see all of their gear prepared for them, "I thought this was our day off..." Maki muttered to herself.

"Seems like this was planned from the beginning," Umi replied.

The two of them geared up, "Let's get this over with..." Maki's eyes burned with furiosity, her date with Umi had been ruined because of that woman.

"Maki you follow her, I'll circle around and cut her off," Umi commanded.

"She'll pay for ruining our hard earned date," Maki ran off and Umi did as well in a separate direction.

Maki kept pursuit on the woman and gave status updates every few minutes to let Umi know where they were.

Umi climbed up to the rooftops and was jumping across buildings and obstacles to get the jump on the woman. Thanks to Umi's agile abilities, she could easily freerun through the city without any trouble. If she calculated it correctly, she would land in front of the woman with enough time to draw her gun and avoid a close encounter.

"Umi! She making her way underneath a bridge, if you're going to do something, do it fast!" Maki yelled. Just as she finished she saw a blue head bobbing up and down on the bridge above her.

She watched the orange haired woman make a break through the underpass and saw Umi leap down to land on the woman. She rolled off and pulled out her handgun, "This game is over."

The woman stood up and held up her hands, "Listen here , I mean no harm, really," she stepped forward and Umi shot at the ground in response.

"You stay where you are," Umi demanded.

Maki caught up, "Hey, you know you ruined our date right?"

"Not now, Maki."

"You two? On a date? That's funny!" the woman mocked.

"Hey! What's so funny huh?" Maki stepped in closer towards the woman.

Umi muttered into her earpiece, "Hey Chief, who is this woman...?"

"Hoshizora Rin, a professional mix martial artist who was banned from fighting in any leagues because of her brutality and reckless behavior," he took a deep breath, "She went by the stage name, Tiger."

"Hey! I asked you what was so funny about our date!" Maki grabbed Rin's shoulder.

Umi instinctively yelled, "Maki! I told you to stay back!"

"What? Wh-" Maki's breath was cut short when she felt something drive into her stomach. It came so fast that she had no time to react and she fell over onto her knees.

Rin reached down and pulled on Maki's hair until she could put her into a chokehold, "Thanks for being such an idiot, put the gun down or I'll snap her neck," she demanded.

Umi kept her sights fixed on Rin, "Let her go..."

"Only if you drop that gun," Rin replied.

Umi slowly lowered her gun down to the ground, she began muttering softly into her earpiece, "Chief... activate the shock collar..."

Umi stood back up and raised her hands to show no hostility, "Wow, you two are completely useless!"

Maki struggled to get herself out of Rin's iron grip, "Let go of me you jerk!"

"Nah ah ah~" she tightened her grip around Maki's neck, "Stop flailing around so much, I might crush your neck on accident."

"Let her go, I did as you asked," Umi demanded.

A sadistic grin crossed Rin's face, "You know, fighting someone like Maki here makes me miss the professional days," she tightened her grip more, "Except there were always rules that kept me from completely destroying my opponents."

"U..mi... I can't..." Maki struggled to get her words out. Her face began to lose its color and the life in her eyes were slowly disappearing.

"It was always, "Oh, don't kill your opponent~' or 'You can't break any bones~'" she described in a mocking voice, "On the streets, it's much more fun. There are no rules, no restrictions, nothing to keep my opponents from dying, like Maki here. Look at her struggling to stay alive, isn't it cute?" Rin teased her by kissing Maki's cheek.

Umi clenched her teeth, "Chief... please, send the shock."

Rin's grip tightened and Maki let out a desperate gasp for air, "Say bye bye, Maki."

Maki reached her hand out towards Umi and watched as her vision began to blur. Her eyes closed and her hand dropped to her side, "Dead already?" Rin began laughing and felt for a pulse, "Yep, she's gone, Doc!"

Umi stood silently her hands were balled up into fists and her fingernails dug into her palms. It felt like she could make them bleed at any second, she had never felt this sort of rage before in her life.

"Sending the shock now," the chief suddenly said.

Maki's collar made a high pitched noise and a high voltage shock was sent through her entire body. It conducted its way into Rin and caused her to scream in agony. She dropped Maki's body and stumbled back, "What the hell was that?!"

Umi's stone cold face remained unmoved and she quickly dove for her gun. She got in close to Rin and held her pistol up to Rin's face.

"Don't you know that putting a gun to my face at this range is useless?" Rin counter attacked and disarmed Umi.

However, what Umi did next was beyond what Rin has ever seen before. She stepped forward and threw a punch at Rin before spinning her body and using her free hand to grab the pistol that was just disarmed from her hand seconds before. She pulled on her arm that Rin grabbed and spun around to free herself from the grip with her gun pointed at Rin once again.

"What... the hell did you just do?" Rin was confused, she had no clue as to what fighting style Umi was using.

Umi remained silent and continued her attack, she employed her own special close quarters combat technique against Rin. Umi imitated Maki's fighting style and molded them to fit into a style where she can use her handgun to attack at the same time.

"Hey! This isn't fair!" Rin struggled to block Umi's attacks with the fear of getting shot in the process.

"This is for Maki..." Umi finally spoke up and it sent a chill down Rin's spine.

She blocked Umi's uppercut but was soon faced with a barrel stuffed against her abdomen, "My orders are to eliminate you by any means necessar-"

A series of coughs and gags echoed underneath the underpass and Umi looked back with her eyes widened, "Maki?!"

Rin saw the opening and sent a high kick that made contact with Umi's cheek. She fell to the ground and Rin used the chance to retreat and live to fight another day.

Umi quickly got back up and scanned the area for Rin. Unfortunately she was nowhere to be seen and Umi holstered her handgun. She rubbed her cheek which ached with a pulsating pain and she rushed over to Maki.

She pressed her ear against Maki's chest and heard a faint heartbeat. She quickly sprang into action and started CPR on her. Umi forcefully pushed on Maki's chest repeatedly and supplied air through mouth to mouth.

When all hope seemed to be lost, Maki coughed and gagged before waking up, "U-Umi? What the hell happ-"

Umi brought Maki in for a tight hug and remained silent, "... Don't you ever scare me like that again..." she whispered.

Surprised by Umi's reaction, Maki simply wrapped her arms around her in response before letting the words escape from her lips, "I'm sorry..."

The two remained in each other's arms underneath the underpass for several minutes. The only thing that could be heard was the faint distressed breathing of Umi and the soft pats on her back from Maki.

"I'm okay, Umi... You can let go," Maki spoke up, Umi shook her head and hugged Maki tighter.

"...I didn't know you could get like this," Maki sighed and pet the usually stoic girl.

"... Me neither..." Umi replied.

"Rabbit, Panther, come in!"

"What is it chief?" Maki replied.

"Where is the target?!"

Umi muttered into her earpiece, "She escaped..."

"Escaped?! How?!"

Umi ignored his question, "...Thank you, Chief..."

"Thank me? For what?!"

"For saving Maki's life... If it wasn't for the shock, her heart wouldn't have jumpstart..." she replied.

"What is this nonsense? Come back to the station!"

A squad car quickly arrived and escorted the two girls back to the police station. When they arrived, they were forced out and up into the chief's office where they faced an inevitable rage.

"What the hell was with that performance out there?!" he slammed his fist onto the table and yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Ease off old-timer! That Rin chick is serious business," Maki fought back to defend the two of them.

Umi stepped forward to speak up, "She killed Maki..."

"Temporarily, I'm still here aren't I?" she patted her body down to show she was alright, " It's all thanks to that shock, nice thinking Umi, I knew I could count on you," she held her thumb up in attempts to ease Umi down.

"We won't be so lucky next time, we have to be careful," Umi replied with little emotion.

"So the Tiger was able to take down the Panther, huh?" the chief sat down in his seat and sighed heavily.

"She got too careless," Umi responded back.

Maki reached for Umi's shoulder and gripped it tightly, "She was throwing shade at our relationship!"

"Anyways, we need access to the training facilities, if we're going to take the Tiger down, we need to train our skills," Umi dismissed Maki's comment with a demand towards the chief.

"I see... I shall allow for you two to train, but that is all I will give you until you capture her," he waved his hand to dismiss them from his office.

"Come on Maki, let's get started while we can..." Umi turned around quickly and pulled on Maki's hand.

"Hey wait!" Maki was dragged along forcefully by her until the two of them reached the doors to the training facility. She ripped her arm out of Umi's grip, "Umi! Doesn't it bother you?! That girl was making fun of us?!"

"We don't have time for this now," Umi reached for Maki's hand, but she pulled it away from her.

"Don't you care?! What about me?!" Maki refused to continue until Umi gave her a straight answer. She closed her eyes to continue yelling but felt something grip her shoulders tightly. She opened her eyes to see Umi who seemed to have a pained expression on her face.

"Of course I care about you! I..." Umi wrapped her arms tightly around Maki, "I thought I lost you... And I don't want that to happen again!"

Maki was left speechless and the only thing she could do to respond was to hug her back and dig her face into Umi's shoulder.

"Let's go..." Umi pulled Maki into the training facility.

* * *

The two girls tirelessly trained together for 3 months before they felt that they were ready to take on the Tiger again.

Umi trained herself to be even faster and more agile, she can now hit a target while on the move with the same accuracy as if she were in a sniper's nest. She also mastered her firearms CQC technique which she now dubbed Rabbit Trap in case of an emergency like last time.

Maki on the other hand focused on honing her own style of fighting and trained the evasive maneuvers of it to avoid everything she did wrong against Rin that day. Umi also trained her on how to defend against the Rabbit Trap fighting style just in case the Tiger tried to imitate it.

Along with honing their skills, they worked together to improve their speed, strength, agility and stamina. Maki had never trained a day in her life before, but now that she had the proper training she felt like she could hold her own against Rin.

The two of them stood in the center of a boxing ring, "Are you sure about this, Umi?"

She held up an airsoft gun in response, "Try to keep up."

"I'm the predator here," she smirked and launched off her feet towards Umi.

Umi counter attacked Maki's straight punch with her arm and used her airsoft pistol to fire into Maki's inner elbow. Her arm dangled for a second before Maki got control of it again, "Still too wide, Maki."

Maki let a giggle escape her lips, "Just because you blocked one attack doesn't mean you've won yet."

Maki began her assault again by rushing forward, she applied the training from Umi and attacked the inner elbow of the arm that held the airsoft gun. It went limp and Umi was open for an attack. Maki wrapped her arms around Umi's waist, swung around behind and lifted her into a suplex. Umi's shoulders came crashing down to the ground and she let out a gasp of air.

Maki lifted Umi up again for another suplex and then once more before letting go. Umi laid on the ground and held her shoulders in pain, "Umi are you okay?!"

Maki crawled over and helped Umi sit up straight, "Y-Yeah I'm fine..."

"I got carried away, I'm so sorry," Maki squeezed Umi tightly which caused her to groan in pain. Maki quickly let go and sat backwards.

"You're wide open, Maki," Umi ignored the pain and pounced onto her, "You have to stop worrying about me or else this will keep happening..."

"Maybe I want it to..." Maki grabbed Umi's training bra and pulled until their faces were close.

"I'm being serious here, Maki..." Umi tried to push herself up, but Maki's superior physique prevented her from doing so.

"Give me a kiss and I'll let you go," Maki demanded. Umi closed her eyes and pursed her lips, she inched closer to Maki before bringing up her airsoft gun and shooting Maki's cheek.

Maki screeched and let go, giving Umi enough time to stand back up, "Oww! That was uncalled for, Umi!"

"Three months and I'm still the only weakness you have," Umi offered out her hand which Maki grabbed, "If you focus too much on me, you're going to get hurt."

"But we're just training, you could have at least given me the kiss," Maki pouted.

"This time training, next time against the Tiger, you pick which one you want to lose to next," Umi refused to let up.

"Okay, okay I get it..." Maki rubbed her cheek which was still stinging in pain from the airsoft gun, "it still hurts..."

Umi leaned over and kissed Maki's cheek, "There... Happy?"

Maki blushed and nodded happily, "All better now!"

"Let's get to bed, I'll tell the Chief to send us tomorrow after we shower," Umi walked off and Maki followed after. The two entered the cage and continued with their shower together.

* * *

Silence filled the police station across from it to the side was a dark alleyway shrouded in darkness. A dark figure crawled out of the shadows and ran for the side of the police station walls. The footsteps were padded and produced little to no noise.

"This is Wolf, about to infiltrate," the shadowy figure spoked into a small microphone.

"Great job, Wolf, everything from here on out is all up to you," a voice replied.

The dark figure stepped out into the moonlight and it's face was revealed. This figure, "Wolf" was a small framed girl with pitch black hair which was tied into a small bun which hung by her neck. Half of her face was covered with a cloth-like face mask and one of her eyes was covered by a hi-tech type of monocle device.

"Switching to night vision," the girl used her fingers to press small buttons located on the side of the device. A small clicking noise was heard and she crouched down to conceal herself in darkness.

She snuck her way around the back of the police station wall and climbed over it, when she landed, she spotted a small two man team of guards standing at the back entrance. She took cover behind the dumpster and pulled out a small pistol. She checked the amount of rounds she had in the gun and took aim at one of the guards before pulling the trigger.

The bullet hit the guard's neck and soon enough he was knocked out, the other guard jumped and looked around before walking over to his friend. The girl took this chance to run up to the guard and put him into a chokehold, she pulled out a knife and held it against his neck, "How many are in the station?"

"T-twenty of us," he replied.

The girl tightened her grip around the guard's neck until he passed out from lack of oxygen. She grabbed the two bodies and hid them next to each other behind the dumpster before picking the lock to the back door. The lock clicked and the girl quickly and quietly slipped inside, making sure that the door closed as quietly as possible.

It seemed like she was on the ground floor, her target was up on the second floor so she looked around to see if there were any shortcuts that she could take. Her eyes spotted a door that read "security" and snuck towards it. The handle was slightly broken so there was no way she could pick the lock, instead she knocked on the door and waited for it to open.

"Yeah, what is it?" a guard flung the door open and the woman shot him in the neck. He passed out asleep and the woman dragged him back into the room. On the desk were multiple monitors that showed her what all of the security camera's were seeing.

The woman pulled out a flashdrive and stuck it into the security computer, she then reached for her monocle device and used two fingers to punch in some sort of special combination.

Shortly after, her monocle device had full access to the security cameras and this would give her an advantage during the infiltration. She left the security room and closed the door to keep from anyone discovering the incapacitated guard.

With her training and the use of the security cameras thanks to her eye device, she had the upper hand, "This is almost too easy..." by the time she was done, she had dropped every guard by non-lethal means and stood in front of her target's office that read, "Police Chief".

"Black Widow, I'm about to enter the target's office, prepare for a clean up crew," she muttered into the earpiece.

The woman busted through the door with her handgun pointed at the police chief, "Well... this is a surprise," he muttered.

The woman remained silent, "I never thought I'd live to see the day I would be targeted by the legendary Wolf, Yazawa Nico."

Nico removed her eye device to show a discolored eye compared to her other which was red, "Then you know what happens next..." she fired her handgun and the chief fell face first onto his desk.

"This is Wolf, mission complete."

* * *

Maki ran out of the bathroom and almost tripped, she was laughing hysterically and pointing back, "Hahaha! Come on, you know that's funny, Umi!"

Umi appeared by the doorway with bubbles all around her head that was shaped to make her look like Santa Claus. She was obviously not amused.

Maki was on the floor laughing and holding her stomach, "Umiii! Please say Ho Ho Ho!"

"No," Umi turned around to go wash off the bubbles.

"W-wait, let me take a picture!" Maki reached over for a camera but slipped and went crashing to the ground in a laughing fit.

Umi sighed and washed off all of the bubbles. She had let Maki convince her into putting bubble soap into the bath but it ended up backfiring on her when Maki started to have too much fun with it.

She got up and wrapped a towel around herself before grabbing another one for Maki. When she left the bathroom, Maki was still on the ground laughing her life away, "Hurry and put this on before you catch a cold."

Maki felt a towel hit her and she temporarily stopped laughing to dry herself off and wrapped it around her body, "Come on, lighten up a little, Umi," she clung onto Umi's arm and pulled her down to sit on her bed, "You know how much I love Santa."

"It wasn't funny to begin with," Umi replied.

"Aww, you were cute though," Maki poked her nose playfully.

Umi made a dissatisfied face before standing up, "I have to tell the chief that we are ready to take on the Tiger again," she slithered out of Maki's grip and made her way to the intercom, "Hey Chief, we're ready to take on the Tiger..."

There was no response.

"Chief? Are you there?" she asked again.

Still no response.

"That's odd..." Umi muttered to herself.

"What's wrong?" Umi turned around to look at Maki before making her way back to her side.

"The Chief isn't answering the intercom," she answered.

Maki raised a brow, "Doesn't he always though?"

Umi looked down, "Yeah, I don't have a good feeling about this..."

A loud bell rang and the entrance to the cage opened up. When the two of them looked in its direction, no one was there, "Hey Umi...?"

"What is it, Maki?" Umi stood up and backed away a few steps.

"Something's not right here..." Maki stood up as well and retreated to her dresser, "Let's hurry and get changed."

Umi nodded and shuffled towards her dresser to get dressed. Maki finished up and made sure to grab a small knife from the kitchen before leaving with Umi. She poked her head outside to see if anyone was around, but there was no sign of life.

"Hey, let's go..." Maki motioned Umi over and the two of them made their way up the stairs. When they walked through the door to the main floor, there were no guards or officers in sight.

"I don't like this, Maki, keep your guard up..." Umi stepped forward and held on to Maki's hand to guide her to the front door. She pulled but it remained shut, "It's locked..."

"Let's check the Chief's office..." Maki pulled on Umi's arm and she followed. The two silently made their way up the steps until they arrived in front of the chief's office.

They glanced at each other and nodded before Umi twisted the handle and smashed her shoulder against the door to get in. Maki quickly followed in after Umi with her knife armed and ready.

"...Chief?" Umi muttered.

"This station is under new management..." a womanly voice spoke up.

Umi and Maki put their guard up and looked around until their eyes ended up on the chair that had its back turned to them. It spun around slowly to reveal a woman with light brown hair sitting on the chair with a sinister smile.

"Who are you?" Umi took a defensive stance and Maki took a step forward.

"What did you do with the chief?" Maki lunged forward with her knife and Umi held out her hand,

"Maki wait!"

Umi felt a breeze blow past her and the sound of metal hitting the ground shortly after. It happened so quickly that Umi couldn't register what was happening until it was done. A small girl had knocked the knife out of Maki's hand and had her pinned to the ground with a pistol pressed against her neck.

"Stand down, Wolf," the woman commanded.

Nico got off of Maki and took a step back to block the door. Maki stood up and massaged her arm, "I didn't even have time to react to that..."

"Listen here, Rabbit & Panther..." the woman spoke up, "You now work for me and will carry out my orders as I see fit."

Umi clenched her teeth, "Who are you?"

"Ahh how rude of me," the woman stood up and proceeded to do a western curtsy, "My name is Koizumi Hanayo," she looked at them with a sinister grin,

"Otherwise known as the infamous Black Widow."


	4. Rivalry

"Black Widow...?" Umi whispered her name.

"You see... I'm a woman of business and intel, the reason why I am here... is to simply take control of you two," Hanayo explained.

"Well too bad, we aren't going to listen to you!" Maki yelled.

Hanayo held up her finger and shook it, "Not so fast there, Panther," she held up the remote that the two were familiar with, "Just because the chief isn't here doesn't mean you're free yet."

Maki bit her lip to keep herself from making the situation worse.

"I'll be clear from the get go, there is a rival that I must take out, and I need you two to do it," she spun the controller in her hands playfully.

"And what if we don't?" Umi asked.

Hanayo smiled and pressed a button on the controller which sent a shock across Umi's body, causing her to fall over in pain, "I think you know already."

Maki rushed over to Umi's side to help her up, "You're going to pay for this one day... What did you do with the chief?"

"Oh don't you worry about him. We cleaned up the entire station and they have all been stowed away in my own personal little prison," Hanayo explained.

Umi finally recovered enough to speak up, "What are you going to do with them?"

"Perhaps use them as test subjects for new poisons and venoms?" Hanayo said jokingly.

"You're destroying innocent lives!" Umi yelled back.

"Oh? Isn't it a little hypocritical of you to say that? You were a hired assassin before ending up here, I suggest keeping your mouth shut unless you want your head blown off from that collar," Hanayo pointed the remote at Umi with a threatening look on her face.

Umi bit her tongue to avoid certain death, "What do you need from us...?"

"There's the cooperative mood I was looking for!" Hanayo hopped off the chair and walked over to the two girls, "As you may know, the Tiger has been running around lately and causing trouble."

The two nodded and Hanayo continued, "I tried desperately to get her to join my side, but she absolutely refuses to, that's why I want you two to kill her."

"If you haven't noticed, we have been trying to do that," Maki shrugged.

"Oh, I'm well aware of that. If I remember correctly, she killed you, am I right?" Hanayo poked at Maki's chest to mock her. Maki clenched her fists tightly and suppressed her anger.

"I am also aware that you two have been training ever since that encounter, I've seen what you can do, and you two are ready," Hanayo came to a stop in front of them and crossed her arms.

"How do you know all of this?" Umi asked reluctantly.

"This police station's security system is state of the art, it's pretty good... but not good enough. I've been keeping an eye on you two for a very long time now," Hanayo explained, "And might I say, you're a demon in bed, Umi."

"YOU WATCHED US WHEN WE-" Maki raised her voice but Umi quickly covered her mouth.

"So what do you plan to do now?" Umi asked calmly.

"Well first..." Hanayo pulled out a key and stepped in closer towards the two of them, she wrapped her arms around Umi's neck.

"Hey! Umi's mine, keep your filthy hands off of her!" Maki yelled.

Hanayo laughed and inserted the key into the back of the collar, it unlocked and the collar fell off. She turned towards Maki and did the same thing.

"... What're you getting at here?" Maki backed away cautiously when her collar hit the floor.

"I'm replacing these collars with my own design," Hanayo looked over at Nico. At her signal, Nico saluted and walked over to the chief's desk to pull out a small case. She opened it up to reveal two smaller versions of their collars.

Hanayo picked them up and presented the new devices to the two girls, "Say hello to your new best friends."

"Umm... No offense, but these are way too small for us," Maki looked at them with a snarky grin.

Hanayo grinned back and grabbed a hold of Maki's arm, "I guess you're first then," Hanayo opened the device and slapped it onto Maki's arm just below her elbow. Once it locked into place, it began to change shape and flatten out to make itself look like it were an armband or an arm sleeve.

Maki inspected the new device around her arm, "I've never seen anything like this before..."

"It's new nanoweave technology, entirely flexible and durable enough to deflect bullets much like Kevlar but a lot stronger... I invented it myself," Hanayo grinned mischievously and hid her hands behind her back. A small remote dropped from her sleeve and she pushed a green button.

Maki felt something puncture into her skin and she started to feel a numbing pain in her arm. Soon enough it started to burn up and cramp like it was being continuously shocked. She held her arm in pain before she started to sweat and notice how hard it was to breathe.

"What... did you do... to me?!" Maki struggled to get her words out and clutched her chest as she fell to one knee. It was tightening and it felt like something heavy was stepping on her. It made it difficult for Maki to breathe and she struggled to get back up on her feet.

"She's had enough! Stop this!" Umi grabbed Hanayo's hand which held the remote and she shrugged before pushing a blue button.

Maki felt something else puncture her but this time it was a much more soothing remedy. She returned to normal after a few minutes and caught her breath before speaking up, "What the hell was that?!"

"My new venom, it shuts down almost all motor functions in the body and slowly stops you from breathing," Hanayo explained.

"Why did you use it on me?!" Maki shouted.

"To show you that I am in charge of your lives now, over time the venom will be switched out with stronger and more potent samples, it'd be best not to get on my bad side," Hanayo threatened.

Maki kept her mouth shut and watched Hanayo place the other device on Umi's arm, "Now that we have all of that settled, I'm deploying you two to take down Tiger tonight."

Maki protested, "What?! You expect us to start this soon?!"

Hanayo held up the remote again and Maki flinched. She didn't want to go through the pain of that venom again, and thinking that she would switch it out for something more powerful actually scared Maki.

"Understood... We need our gear though," Umi said calmly.

"Wolf!" Hanayo called over Nico and dropped a new case in front of them, "I have re-outfitted your loadouts to match your new skills and abilities, use them wisely."

The two girls shuffled through their new gear, Umi put everything on without a problem, but Maki frowned, "Umm..."

"What's wrong, Maki?" Umi looked down to see Maki frantically searching through the gear.

"I can't find my knife!" Maki shouted, she kept searching for it but it was nowhere in sight.

"You mean that Karambit?" Hanayo reached over the chief's desk and pulled it out from a drawer.

Maki jumped up and swiped it from Hanayo's hands, "Yes! What were you doing with it?!"

"I thought a combat knife would suit you better than that thing," Hanayo explained.

Maki unsheathed it and spun it around in her hands with precision, "This is the only knife I will use, you can take yours back."

Hanayo shrugged and closed the case, "Whatever suits you... I suppose. My months of intel collection tell me that Tiger has been hiding out at an abandoned boxing gym downtown."

Umi checked over her new sniper rifle, "This is a PSG1 semi-automatic sniper rifle..." she pulled out the magazine to check the capacity, "Ten 7.62 NATO rounds per magazine..." she posed with the rifle and looked down the scope to test it out.

"I saw how quickly your accuracy was improving, by giving you a semi automatic instead of a bolt action, you could take down enemies faster," Hanayo explained.

Umi shrugged, "We'll see about that..." she pulled the pistol out of it's holster to inspect it next, "... Walther P99, german made and fires 9mm rounds..." she clicked on a button located near her thumb and the magazine popped out, she checked the capacity, "15 shots per magazine and..." she reached down to pull out a suppressor to screw on before taking aim and trying it out.

"You like it?" Hanayo asked.

"I suppose so..." she replied with her eyes fixed on the new handgun.

"It's almost like you're James Bond," Hanayo joked.

Umi remained silent and put the pistol back in her holster. She looked over at Maki who was fiddling around with her new handgun, "Hey Umi, what is this?" she held the gun up to the stoic girl.

"That's a US made M1911, it fires .45 ACP rounds and has a 7 round magazine," she answered.

"You like to fight with your knife, so I thought it'd be best for you to have something more powerful for those tougher guys," Hanayo responded.

Maki shrugged and put it back in her holster before standing up.

"I also outfitted Maki with a light kevlar under armor that will soften the attacks from Tiger," she added.

"Wait, what about Umi?" Maki asked.

"I thought about giving her some, but her style of fighting doesn't suit the needs as much as yours does," she explained with ease.

"Okay..." Maki's eyes lit up, "Okay but what if...?"

"No," Hanayo turned Maki down immediately.

"But you didn't even hear me out!" she shouted back.

"Knowing you, it is going to be ridiculous," Hanayo replied.

"You can say that again..." Umi added.

Maki's jaw dropped, "You too, Umi?! I was just going to say, what if you made some type of armor out of this nanoweave thing you invented?"

Hanayo laughed instead, "It's not exactly something you can make so easily, just developing the amount you two have costed millions. A full body nanoweave armor would cost way too much until we figure out how to mass produce it without sacrificing quality."

"It was just an idea..." Maki took off her shirt and slipped the light kevlar vest on before covering it with her shirt again.

"Okay, Wolf will drive you to the location. Once you are dropped off, she will have to leave the area and return on foot after abandoning the car," Hanayo explained.

Maki held up her hand in question, "Why abandon a perfectly good car?"

"To get rid of any evidence that the government can pick up on," Hanayo answered, "Now if you would please follow Wolf..." she gestured over towards the door where Nico stood silently.

She nodded and left the room, the two girls shortly followed after her, "So, Wolf... What's your name?"

Nico remained silent towards Maki's question, "Um... Hello? Can you hear me?"

She turned her head towards Maki slightly, "I only tell my name to the ones I trust."

"And that would be?" Maki continued to press on.

"Not many..." she answered.

Umi placed a hand on Maki's shoulder and shook her head to signal her to stop with the questions. Maki obeyed and kept quiet until the three of them arrived at the car. It was a small black sedan that looked like it was from a lower income neighborhood.

Nico got in and started the engine while the others got in and drove off quickly towards the location Rin was at.

* * *

The car came to a slow stop and Umi pushed the door open to get out. Maki followed shortly and the two of them turned to face Nico, "I'll be back in 30 minutes... Don't die," she rolled up her window and sped off.

Maki turned to face Umi and smiled, "Let's show Tiger who's boss!"

Umi nodded and the two of them jogged lightly towards the front entrance of the boxing gym. It was old and decrepit, the front entrance glass was shattered and allowed for a cool breeze to continuously blow in and out. The sound of shattered glass drifting across the concrete floor set an eerie atmosphere and captured the idea of an abandoned building all too well.

Umi pulled out her new pistol and looked at Maki to do the same. They posted up on opposite sides of the entrance before Umi signaled Maki to rush in. She followed closely behind Maki to cover her blind spot but there was no one in sight.

"Do you think she knew we were coming?" Maki whispered.

"I don't know how she would... keep your eyes peeled and stay close to me..." Umi stepped over a dusty punching bag and motioned Maki to follow after her.

There wasn't much in the abandoned gym, just leftover punching bags either on the ground or barely hanging up with their rusted chains. There was a boxing ring in the middle and the leather on the ropes began to show its age.

"I don't see anything here..." Maki whispered again.

"Don't let your guard down yet Maki," Umi surveyed the area. There was no signs of anyone living in this gym, at least for now. She walked back to Maki and tapped on her shoulder, "Let's check the locker rooms."

Maki nodded and followed within 5 feet of Umi, she kept her new handgun raised and held it close to her body like Umi had taught her. This way if someone were to attack, they wouldn't be able to grab it from her.

Umi stepped inside the locker room and turned on the flashlight attachment on her pistol, she waved the light around and found nothing worth noting, "It's empty..." just as she turned away, a glint caught her eyes and she approached it slowly.

"Maki, I found... I think it's a bullet?" Umi reached out to it.

"Really? What's that doing here?" she stepped in closer towards Umi to look over her shoulder.

"It looks like a regular 9mm bullet..." Umi picked up the round to inspect it.

There was a clicking sound and Maki quickly pushed Umi out of the way. A hole opened in the wall in front of them and a sharp spear thrusted outwards. It hit Maki right in the abdominal region and sent her flying backwards.

"Maki?!" Umi got up and scrambled to get over to her.

She let out a gasp of air and struggled to catch her breath, "T-that knocked the wind out of me..." she slowly sat up and pulled on the spear, "Hanayo wasn't kidding when she said," she pulled the spear out to reveal that the tip was slightly bent, "this would soften blows..." she fell back and took deep breaths until she returned to normal.

"What is a trap doing in a place like this?" Umi asked herself.

"I don't know, maybe Tiger had some defenses," Maki answered.

Umi shook her head, "I wouldn't take her as the trap using type... and plus, would she even be able to create a mechanism like this?" Umi stood up and helped Maki up to her feet.

"I don't know bu-" Maki cut her sentence off when the sound of a lead pipe being dropped echoed across the gym, "Where did that come from?"

Umi stuck her head out of the locker room doorway to see if anyone was inside the gym. There was no one in sight but Umi had an idea of where the general direction of the sound came from.

She motioned Maki to follow behind her and made her way across the gym, the sound came from the other side of it where the management office was. As she approached the door, she leaned her ear against it to try to make out any sounds.

"...Music?" she listened closely to pick up a song that sounded like a lullaby. She listened closer and heard a ticking noise, "Is it being played out of a music box?"

Maki grew impatient, "Umi, obviously someone is in there!" she shoved Umi out of the way and kicked the door in. Using the iron sights on her pistol, she surveyed the room to find nothing inside except for a music box sitting on a table.

"Maki step back," Umi pulled Maki out of the room and pushed her to the side.

"O-ow! Being rough is fine but not now!" Maki massaged where Umi had grabbed her, "What's all the fuss about?"

"A music box doesn't play on its own..." Umi peeked through the corner to look for any abnormalities with the room. A single music box on the center of a table pushed against a wall, almost as if it was meant to be seen.

The music came to a stop and Umi could hear a faint clicking sound just like before. She instantly sprang into action and dove towards Maki to get the two of them to safety. The music box exploded and sent shrapnel flying in a 360 radius, if the two of them had stayed in that room, they would have died from the blast.

"Another freaking trap? Okay, you know what?" Maki pushed Umi off of her and got up to dust herself off before puffing her chest out, "Whoever is playing with us, get your ass out here now!"

"Maki, that won't work..." Umi reached out to grab her shoulder.

A bright light shined onto the boxing ring and the two girls quickly reacted to it. Standing in the ring was a young woman around their age who was smirking to herself as she looked at them, "You two have done well to dodge those traps," she announced.

"Who are you?!" Maki shielded her eyes with her forearm to reduce the amount of light that was invading her pupils.

The woman laughed in response, "How are you, Rabbit & Panther?"

"How do you know our code names?" Umi took a step forward and felt a wire wrap around her ankle. She was immediately suspended into the air and dangled with an unamused face.

"Did you see that Nozomi?! We totally caught the Rabbit!" the woman pointed at Umi to mock her and looked up towards the light.

"I sure did, Elichi, I'm surprised these two are so horrible at avoiding traps!" the woman who was shining the light jumped down and stood next to the blonde.

Maki scoffed in response, "Well your traps failed either way."

Nozomi hugged onto the blonde's arm, "That doesn't change the fact that they set them off, right Eli?"

"Your traps are always brilliant, Nozomi," Eli reached her hand up to cup the girl's cheek.

"Elichi..." she whispered.

"Nozomi..." Eli closed her eyes and locked lips with her. Maki glanced over at Umi with an unamused look on her face. Umi pointed up at her ankle in response and Maki tossed her knife over.

"Nuh uh uh! I wouldn't do that if I were you~" Nozomi separated herself from Eli's lips and waved her finger as if she were speaking to a child. She pressed a button on a remote she pulled out from her shirt and the floor that Umi hovered over collapsed to reveal numerous metallic spikes, "That is unless you want to become human cheddar."

Eli laughed boisterously, "I love your sense of humor, Nozomi."

"I love you more," Nozomi caressed Eli's cheek with her fingers before kissing her again.

Umi made eye contact with Maki again and she responded by going cross eyed as she spun her finger around to mock how insane they sounded.

"Alright, jokes aside, who are you two?" Umi asked.

"Who are we?" Nozomi repeated.

"She asked who we are," Eli responded.

"We're star crossed lovers brought together with one common goal!" Nozomi answered.

"To kill for money," Eli added.

"Yeah yeah, that's nice and all but what are your names?" Maki wanted them to hurry up and waited impatiently.

Nozomi clicked her tongue and pulled the remote out again to press a button. Umi fell closer to the metal spikes, "It's rude to interrupt people during their introduction!"

Nozomi took a deep breath to calm herself down, "As we were saying, I am Nozomi otherwise known as Tanuki!"

Eli pulled Nozomi in closer to her, "And I am Eli, otherwise known as Fox!"

They locked their hands together and performed an obviously choreographed routine before finally saying in unison, "And together we are Fox & Tanuki!"

"Wait wait! No! You can't do that, that's our thing!" Maki's tone and expression showed hints of annoyance and anger.

Umi nodded, "Yeah, it's like... copyrighted."

"Copyright is the last thing you should be worried about, Rabbit," Nozomi threatened Umi by holding up the remote.

"Ahh Nozomi, why don't you have some fun with Panther?" Eli suggested.

"That sounds like a good plan, you keep an eye on Rabbit then~" Nozomi jumped off of the ring and approached Maki slowly.

She took up a defensive stance as Nozomi inched closer, when the two stood 10 feet away from each other Nozomi held out her hand, "You have very pretty hair, Panther."

Maki backed away and tried to maintain a good distance from Nozomi, but she kept up her slow pursuit, "Do you mind if I touch it?"

"Keep your hands away from me or I'll shoot..." Maki continued to back up until she hit a wall. Nozomi smiled mischievously and reached over Maki's shoulder to wrap her fingers around her hair. She felt something prick against her neck and saw Nozomi backing up slowly. Her vision began to distort and she couldn't get a sense of direction, "W-What did you do to me?"

"Just a little drug to make you a little coo coo~" Nozomi answered.

Maki looked around for Nozomi but couldn't find where she was. It sounded like she was next to her ear, but she would look and see nothing. All she could make out was a distorted image of a gym and Nozomi speaking up every now and then.

"Hey Panther, want to know something?"

"S-Shut up! Fight me like a real woman!" Maki yelled to her left where the voice came from. There was no one there again.

"I wonder what it would be like if you saw Rabbit dead?"

The voice came from the other direction next to her ear and she bolted her head to the right. Again nothing. A sinister laugh surrounded Maki and she held her ears. It amplified and refused to stop ringing in Maki's head.

"Shut up!" Maki screamed.

"Rabbit doesn't love you."

"Shut up! Umi loves me!" Maki shook her head furiously to deny what Nozomi was saying.

"She doesn't need you, you're just luggage to her."

"No! You're wrong!" Maki refused to let Nozomi win.

"Think about it, you're the one who almost got her killed."

"I-I didn't know it was a bomb! Leave me alone!" She screamed.

Nozomi began laughing again and Maki held her ears in pain. It suddenly came to a stop and Maki opened her eyes to see a body lying on the floor lit up by a spotlight. Her heart sank and her chest tightened when she recognized the blue hair, "U-Umi...?"

Her voice cracked and she struggled to get up to her feet. The drugs wouldn't allow her to stand up, but she pushed on even if she had to crudely crawl along the floor. "Umi!" her voice hastened and she crawled faster. Upon reaching the body, she noticed the pool of blood around the blue haired girl.

"U-Umi no..." she reached out to brush the girl's hair away from her hidden face. Maki gasped and fell backwards, Umi's face was missing. "F-face, where is Umi's...?" her eyes widened in shock and she struggled to breathe from the surprise.

"This is all your fault, Maki..."

A voice surrounded Maki's head again, but this time it wasn't Nozomi's. It was a voice she had grown too familiar with and loved. Umi's corpse stood up and towered over Maki, the posture looked as if she had broken bones all over her body and the only thing keeping her up were invisible puppet strings.

"It's your fault that I'm dead!"

The voice rung inside Maki's head and no matter what she did, it wouldn't go away or drown out in her own screams.

"If I had never met you, I would still be alive!"

"Noo! Umi would never say these things!" Maki screamed at the top of her lungs in denial.

"Your reckless behavior caused me to die!"

"No! No! No!" she shook her head and shut her eyes tight.

"I only pretended to love you so you would shut up!"

Maki felt herself go cold. It was something she had never experienced before, she opened her eyes and the faceless Umi was mere inches away from her face. She screamed and crawled backwards only to be met by another faceless Umi. Everywhere she looked, a faceless Umi would appear, completely preventing her from looking away. All she could do was shut her eyes and cover her ears as the faceless Umis chanted her name.

"MAKI, SNAP OUT OF IT!"

She felt a hard smack across her cheek and fell to the floor. Maki pushed herself up and shook her head, the gym was back to normal and she could see a body where the faceless Umi was lying before. She turned her head towards the voice and met with the amber eyes that she had grown to love.

She started to tear up and lunged to wrap her arms around Umi's shoulders, "Umi!"

"Maki are you okay? What did Nozomi do to you?"

"I-I don't know, she injected me and there were voices and you were dead and you had no face, then there were like an unlimited number of your faceless self and, and," she buried herself against Umi's chest.

Umi brought up her hand to comfort the red head.

"Hey!" gunshots rung out across the gym and the two looked towards the boxing ring where Eli was still standing.

Umi stood up and held her hand up to signal Maki to stay down, "I'll handle her..."

"Don't you dare think I will let you get away with hurting Nozomi, now I'm mad!" Eli pointed her gun at Umi.

She remained unwavered and continued walking towards the ring.

"So you want to die first? Get up here!" Eli kept her gun pointed at Umi until she reached the edge of the ring.

Umi climbed up over the ropes and circled around the ring.

"You're dumber than I thought, Rabbit," Eli fired a few rounds but Umi dodged them easily, "What the..." she fired off three more shots but missed again, "Hey, stop cheating!"

Umi rushed forward and got underneath Eli's firing arm, she punched her inner elbow and the gun dropped to the floor.

Eli smirked and kicked Umi's gut, "So you want to do it like this, eh?"

Umi stepped back and got into her Rabbit Trap stance. Eli countered her stance by putting her arms up like a boxer. She showed off her speed and smirked, "Try to keep up."

Eli pushed herself forward with her back foot and threw a straight punch, Umi dodged it but she was soon struck by the other hand. It came so fast that she couldn't register it. Umi stumbled back and regained her stance, "You're pretty good..."

Eli bounced off her feet and wore a cocky grin before beginning her attack again. This time Umi was able to keep up and hold her own against Eli. Maki got up and walked towards the edge of the ring to see the two of them go toe to toe. She looked at the pistol that Eli had dropped and noticed that it was the same as hers. If she counted correctly, there should still be one shot left in it.

Umi pulled out her pistol to begin her Rabbit Trap but it was quickly knocked out of her hand and out the ring, "No guns allowed in a fist fight, Rabbit!" She threw a punch and it landed on Umi's cheek. It sent her flying against the ropes only to bounce back and get hit again. This time it was a right hook and she fell to the side.

"Umi!" Maki climbed up the ropes but Umi held her hand up to signal Maki to stop. Umi remained silent but the look in her eyes was enough for Maki to climb back down.

"How admirable of you, Rabbit, facing your death with dignity," Eli stood over Umi and smirked.

"I'm not ready to die yet, Fox," Umi kicked Eli's knee outwards and caused her to fall down. This gave Umi enough time to grab Eli's pistol from before. Eli got back up and the two of them went at it, this time Umi avoided getting the pistol knocked out of her hand and focused on opening Eli up for the perfect shot.

Umi closed the distance between the two of them and stuffed the barrel of the pistol into Eli's stomach. She pulled the trigger and Eli felt the hot lead bullet penetrate her body and come to a stop halfway through her gut. She let out a muffled scream of pain and grabbed onto Umi to keep herself up, "W-well played, Rabbit," Eli struggled to keep herself from coughing up her blood.

Maki rushed onto the ring and pushed Eli off of Umi, "Who sent you two?"

Eli smirked and laughed before she felt a stinging pain in her abdomen, she coughed and waited for it to settle down, "All in due time, Panther."

"Elichi!" a familiar voice rang throughout the gym and a small cylindrical grenade landed in front of the group. Eli smiled and turned away from it, the grenade exploded and released a high frequency noise accompanied by a bright light, it was a flash grenade.

By the time their senses recovered, all that was left was a small bloodstain where Eli was before the flash. Umi tossed Eli's handgun to the ground and Maki cursed under her breath, "Here," Umi handed over Maki's knife from before.

She took it and sighed as she put it away, "No Tiger, and now we have these two to worry about..." Maki frowned and crossed her arms.

"Let's get back to Black Widow and report what we found ou-" the floor of the boxing ring suddenly collapsed and sent the two girls falling until they crashed onto the floor of what looked like a basement.

"They're all yours... Lion."

A girl wearing hi-tech goggles stepped forward and cracked her knuckles, "It's time for a hunt."

* * *

Maki got up and rubbed her back, "What the hell just happened? Umi? Where are you?"

"I'm over here, I can't see a thing," she replied.

"J-just follow my voice!" Maki yelled out, she looked around and saw a faintly lit area, "Umi! Try to make it to that faint light."

"Gotcha," Umi responded.

Maki reached it first and waited for the reunion with Umi. She tapped her feet and crossed her arms, "Umi? What's taking so long?"

"I'm almost ther-" Umi breath was cut short when she felt something smashing against her solar plexus. She flew backwards and crashed against a stone pillar.

"Umi? Are you okay?" Maki called out.

"T-there's some-" she was cut off again when something struck her face. The amount of force felt like it could have completely dislocated her jaw. She couldn't see a thing and that wasn't the worst part. Umi scrambled to her feet and felt a strong kick to her stomach, she knelt over and felt something drive against her back, causing her to scream in pain.

"Umi?! What's wrong? Where are you?!" Maki yelled.

Umi went to raise her voice but felt a pair of hands wrap around her neck, the grip was monstrous and she was way too weak to do anything about it.

One of the hands let go and Umi was able to catch a quick breath before she felt a fist smash against her cheek. Another one came and they kept on coming. Each hit would multiply the pain she was feeling and she felt like blacking out. Without the ability to see, she was completely powerless to stop the onslaught.

Just as her consciousness was about to give out, she felt herself getting thrown down to the ground and a weight sitting above her. She braced herself and covered her face with her arms, however the attacker targeted her stomach instead.

Each punch made Umi want to wretch and gag, but the continuous pain kept her from doing so. It wasn't only her stomach that was attacked, but her chest as well. She could feel her ribs about to crack at any moment, unfortunately they did. She couldn't exactly count how many broke, but she felt one of them puncture one of her lungs. She was having difficulty breathing and tried to stay conscious.

"M-Ma...ki..." she called out in a raspy voice.

She was barely hanging on to consciousness and felt herself getting picked up. The attacker pulled on her hair and swung her across the room. She let out a dry gasp and looked up to see Maki whose face was filled with horror.

"U-Umi?!" Maki knelt down and shook the girl, "Umi! Stay awake, don't close your eyes!" Maki scrambled to look for something to help the injured girl. There wasn't much she could do other than try to compress her injuries.

A laughed filled the dark room and Maki looked around cautiously, "The Rabbit & Panther are completely useless in the dark!"

Maki stood up, "Who's there?! Show yourself!"

A girl stepped out of the shadows and into the dimly lit area. She had ginger colored hair and it was tied into a ponytail to the side. She reached up to take off her goggles and smiled sadistically, "I'm Lion, a pleasure to make your acquaintance," she bowed sarcastically which annoyed Maki.

"You'll pay for what you did to Umi..." Maki reached for her knife and rushed forward.

Umi tried with all of her might to warn Maki about the girl but it fell short, "Maki... wait..."

She jumped forward and held her knife with both of her hands. She thrusted the knife downwards but it was stopped by the woman singlehandedly. She tried to pull away but the grip was unlike anything she had felt before, "Let go of m-"

Maki felt a monstrous force drive into her stomach and her legs went weak. The only thing that kept her up was the attacker who had a firm grip on her hands, "Be a good little cat and watch me play with your precious bunny some more..." The girl tossed Maki to the side, the attack had left Maki in extreme pain and it was hard for her to move.

"Now where were we?" she cracked her knuckles and stood over the injured Umi, "Let's give the cat a good show," the girl dragged Umi's limp body closer towards Maki so she could see everything.

The girl laughed, "I didn't think it would be this easy to take down the infamous Rabbit & Panther!" she raised her fist and drove it down against Umi's solar plexus. She let out a dry gasp and tried desperately to cover the area.

"Let it be known that me, Kousaka Honoka, the Lion killed the Rabbit!" she used her other fist to attack the same spot. Umi almost black out from the next hit and desperately tried to stay awake. She wouldn't be able to last much longer in the condition she was in.

"Now it is time for an old fashioned ground and pound!" Honoka sat on Umi's chest and raised her fists. She punched Umi's face back and forth continuously. Umi was too weak to put up a defense, every single hit made her wish that the pain would be over. If she could just give up, it would all end.

What drove her to stay awake? She looked over towards Maki who was desperately trying to get over to her. She looked back up at Honoka who balled her fists together, "Now for the crushing blow, a good old fashioned hammer fist!"

Umi watched in slow motion as Honoka's hammer fist came crashing down against her face. This time she couldn't do it, her eyes closed and everything went black.

Maki's eyes widened when she saw Umi blackout, "Umi... Umi!" she struggled up to her feet and leaned against a stone pillar. She felt something snap inside of her and lost all sense of reason. It was like something had taken over Maki's body and she couldn't stop it.

Honoka looked back, "Oh, looks like the little cat is ready to play again."

A sinister chuckle escaped Maki's lips before she broke out into a maniac laugh, "AHAHAHAHA! It's been so long since I've been let out!"

"What?" Honoka stood up and faced Maki.

"Ehehehe, let's have some fun, and try not to die too quickly. It's rare for her to let me run free like this," Maki sprinted forward and jumped at Honoka with the knife in hand.

"Did you lose a few screws?" Honoka blocked most of Maki's attacks but not without taking a few cuts from the knife.

Maki jumped back and licked the knife clean, "Are you familiar with the Tokyo Theatre Massacre?"

"Vaguely, why bring that up?" Honoka asked.

"They dubbed me The Bloody Mary of Tokyo," Maki answered.

Honoka flinched at the name, "What? That was you?"

"I suppose you could say it was..." Maki straightened up and played with the knife in her hands, "That was until I was hidden away because of that woman over there," Maki pointed towards Umi.

"What are you trying to say?" Honoka asked.

"That I am like a guardian angel for this useless girl... or rather... a vengeful demon? I might not agree with her loving that stoic chick, but she is me and I will protect the body we share!" Maki stepped forward and started attacking Honoka again.

She was much faster, much deadlier than before. She didn't cut to kill, she cut to bleed. No matter how many times Honoka blocked Maki's attacks, a cut would appear instead. The bloodlust in Maki's eyes sent chills down Honoka's spine.

"What the hell are you?" Honoka yelled.

"Just a girl who needs to satisfy her bloodlust!" Maki stabbed the knife into Honoka's shoulder and kicked her to the ground, "I have to admit, you are insanely strong, you might be less human than I am," she pulled the knife out before using her knees to keep Honoka pinned down, "and that's sayin' somethin'."

Maki stabbed her knife into Honoka's other shoulder and laughed in joy after hearing her scream, "Oh how I've missed doing this!" she pulled the knife out and stabbed it into Honoka's left arm, again, Maki's face filled with pleasure as Honoka screamed.

"I really wish Maki would let me out some more, but killing you is enough to satisfy me until next time," she pulled the knife out and stabbed it into Honoka's right arm, "Ahh~ I love hearing you scream, it just sends chills down my spine and warms me to the core," she smiled sadistically, "I can't wait until you stop breathing."

Maki pulled out the knife and started making small cuts on Honoka's body, "Have you ever heard of death by a thousand cuts... I never been to China, but I do like their styles of torture."

Honoka tried her best to remain calm in the situation.

"Then again, I never had the patience to get to a thousand!" she raised her knife but stopped when she heard a peculiar noise of something metallic dropping and rolling on the floor. She turned around to see a cylindrical object that immediately started releasing a cloud of gas. Honoka took this chance to kick Maki off of her.

"Honoka! This way!" a light voice called out. When she looked up she saw a silhouette of a person hanging off the edge and holding a steel pipe. Honoka nodded and jumped for it, pulling herself up to safety.

Maki got up and shook her head, "Ugh... what happened...?" She stood on her feet and noticed the gas cloud expanding, "Eh? We have to get out of here!" she rushed over to Umi's side and slung her over her shoulders, "How do we get out?!" Maki looked around frantically for an exit but everything was closed off.

"Get under something!" A voice yelled.

Maki obeyed quickly and got underneath what looked like a table. An explosion soon followed and there was an opening in the ceiling. Maki looked up to see Nico who dropped a ladder down, "Hurry up!"

Maki nodded and made a break for the ladder, she climbed it as quickly and carefully as she could until Nico could pull Umi to safety. She then helped Maki up and kicked the ladder down, "What the hell happened? I was gone for 30 minutes!"

"It was a trap!" Maki yelled back, "We have to get Umi medical attention!"

"Move," Nico pushed Maki over and reached into her chest pocket to pull out a small syringe. She inserted it into Umi's neck and pushed on it until the syringe was empty, "That should keep her alive until we get back to the station."

Nico stood up and hoisted Umi onto her shoulders, "Let's hurry back if we want Rabbit to live."

Nico and Maki rushed Umi back to the station where she was given immediate medical attention. She had numerous cracked ribs, a fractured cheekbone, a punctured lung due to her ribs, and temporary blindness. It took her a week to fully recover but for the most part she was alive and can continue fighting.

Maki stayed by Umi's side all week, making sure to provide for Umi when she needed it such as eating or helping her sit up.

Hanayo knocked on the door and walked in, "I see you have recovered nicely, Rabbit."

Umi bowed in response and Hanayo continued, "I need a sitrep on what happened at the gym last week."

Umi looked over at Maki who kept her eyes to the ground, "You didn't tell her yet?"

"I was worried about you," Maki replied.

Hanayo cleared her throat, "So what happened?"

Umi reached over for a glass of water before starting, "We arrived at the gym and saw that it was empty. We searched around and there were traps set up for us."

"So Tiger knew you were coming?" Hanayo asked.

Umi shook her head, "She wasn't there, there were others."

"Who?"

Umi sighed, "There were these two women named Eli and Nozomi, they went by Fox & Tanuki," she noticed Hanayo's expression change, "You know them, don't you?"

"They're annoying…" Maki added.

Hanayo nodded and sighed, "I'm afraid I do know them… and if they were there... I'm assuming you met Honoka as well or Lion as she prefers."

Maki bounced off her seat, "Did you set us up?!"

"Relax, just because I know them doesn't mean that I'm associated with them!" Hanayo yelled back.

"How do you know about them?" Umi pulled Maki back and asked the question.

"They work for someone I used to be close to, did you happen to see another woman there?" Hanayo answered back.

Maki shook her head, "After seeing Umi blacking out, everything just went blank for me. I don't even know how Lion escaped but when I came to we were surrounded by a gas."

"Who do you have in mind?" Umi asked.

"Her name is Minami Kotori, otherwise known as Swallow. She's an escape artist and was once my partner," Hanayo answered.

"Then why were her women there?" Maki asked.

"Who knows…? Maybe she convinced Tiger to join her side, or she picked up on my movements and is trying to take me out," Hanayo stood up and walked for the doorway,

"Either way it looks like this is just the beginning… Watch yourselves out there..."


	5. Pain

A woman sat alone in a large room located at the top of a highrise building. She spun around in her large chair and stared out the window into the city before reaching for a glass of wine she had poured for herself earlier.

She took a large sip of the wine and let out a gasp to show her satisfaction with the taste, "Rabbit and Panther..." she whispered their names to herself.

The door to her office opened and the dark room was lit up by the light from the hall, "Kotori, thanks for letting me use your bath."

She spun around in her chair to face the voice, "Are you all better now, Honoka?"

The ginger haired girl nodded and tossed her towel to the side, "That new medicine you developed healed me up nicely," she spun around to show that her cuts from Maki have already closed and began healing.

"It's a good thing that my money put into R&D was well spent then," Kotori reached over for another wine glass, "Would you like a drink?"

"Oh, yeah sure I'll take one," Honoka pranced over and waited until Kotori poured the red wine into the spare glass she had. When it was filled to the brim, Honoka offered a toast and took a swig of the wine, "Oooh that is goood!"

Kotori nodded and smiled back at her, "Just a little perk to being rich."

"I'm glad I'm fighting for your side," Honoka plopped down onto a cushioned seat and leisurely drank her wine, "I would have died from Panther's psychotic breakdown if it hadn't have been for you."

"Was she really that bad?" Kotori asked.

Honoka set down her wine and started animating her words, "She was off the walls insane! I mean, I know you told us that she was crazy, but holy cow was she CRAZY!"

Kotori nodded along as Honoka explained, "It was like she was an entirely different person. She moved quicker, attacked harder and everything she did was wild and unpredictable. Before I knew it, I was on the ground thinking that I came face to face with a demon from the underworld!"

Kotori closed her eyes and laid back, "It's a good thing I got you out just in time then... Have you heard from Eli and Nozomi?"

"Other than Nozomi letting me know that the trap was successful, nothing at all," Honoka answered.

Kotori tapped on her desk with her fingernails in a rhythmic pace, "I hope they're alright..."

* * *

Nozomi stomped on the breaks of the car and quickly turned the engine off. She pulled on the handle of her door and nearly fell out of her seat. Luckily she kept her balance and rushed over to the other side where Eli laid.

When she opened the door, she could see Eli barely holding onto consciousness. She held a bloodied rag where her bullet wound was and Nozomi carefully reached over to help Eli out of the car.

"You're going to be fine, Eli," she threw Eli's arm over her shoulder and staggered the two of them towards an old cabin. This place was where the two had been hiding out for the past few years and they haven't been caught yet.

Nozomi made it to the front door and reached for her pockets in search of a key. As she pulled it out, her fingers slipped and the key fell onto the floor, "God damn it, not now!"

She carefully lowered herself down to pick it up and slid it into the lock. Nozomi kicked the door open and rushed Eli to their bed.

Eli was bleeding out and she had already lost a lot of blood during the drive here, Nozomi had to work fast if she wanted to save Eli's life. She rushed into the bathroom to grab the first aid kit before running her way back to Eli, almost tripping in the process.

"Okay Eli, just stay awake with me!" Nozomi cupped the blonde's sweaty cheeks and brushed her hair away. She turned Eli to the side to see if the bullet had went through her body. Unfortunately it didn't and Nozomi sighed, "I'm going to have to extract the bullet..."

She took a deep breath and reached for the forceps and tweezers in the first aid kit. She set them down next to Eli and got a few towels and a basin of water. She held up a tightened roll of cloth to Eli's mouth, "Here, bite on this... please just bear with it until I get the bullet out."

Eli nodded weakly and bit down on the cloth in preparation for the pain she was about to endure. Nozomi picked up the forceps and tweezers in each hand. She approached Eli's wound with the forceps and inserted it, using the handles to push the wound open enough for Nozomi to find the bullet.

Eli let out muffled screams in pain as she bit down on the cloth, "Just hang in there, Eli, give me a minute to find the bullet!"

Nozomi brought out a flashlight to help her see into Eli's body. She poked around with the tweezers and found nothing, "Hold on tight, Eli..." she pushed the forceps holding the wound open deeper inside and took another look.

Eli tried desperately to keep herself from flailing due to the pain, her legs buckled and she gripped onto the bedsheets. She did anything she could to keep her body still for Nozomi.

"I think I see it!" Nozomi reached in deeper with the tweezers towards a shine that reflected from the flashlight. The tweezers clamped on each side of the bullet and Nozomi pulled on it carefully.

Eli let more muffled screams escape from the cloth and breathed heavily in attempts to regulate the pain. Nozomi pulled hard enough to take the bullet out in one go and Eli spat the cloth out of her mouth. She released a loud shriek of pain before Nozomi placed a towel over the wound.

"Okay, I have to disinfect and stitch it, just a little more, Eli!" Nozomi reached over for the antiseptic and splashed it onto a cotton pad. She cleaned the area around Eli's wound and prepared it for stitching.

She took a deep breath and began the stitching process, every time she would poke the needle through Eli's flesh, she could feel Eli's body reacting in pain. Nozomi focused all of her attention on making a good stitching and by the time she had finished she noticed that Eli had passed out.

"Eli? Eli?!" she tapped Eli's face lightly in attempts to wake her up. There was no response and Nozomi took a deep breath, "Okay... just stay calm, Nozomi. Eli will be perfectly fine when she wakes up."

Nozomi stood up and cleaned up everything. The first aid kit was put away, the bloodied towels were thrown into the trash, and the bloodied water in the basin was poured down the sink. She washed her hands thoroughly and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

"Please wake up, Eli..." she shuffled her way over to the bed and laid down on the empty side. Nozomi brought her hand up to cup Eli's cheek and gave her a quick kiss, "... For good luck..." she rested her head on the pillow and kept a close eye on Eli for the rest of the night. She eventually passed out after all of today's events caught up with her.

* * *

Hanayo sat at her desk and scratched her head. It had been weeks since the incident at the gym happened and there have been no signs of movement from Kotori. "What are you planning, Kotori...?" she spun a pencil around her fingers as she thought.

The door to her office swung up and two girls walked in, "We finished that kidnapping case you sent us on."

"Good, return to the cage and I'll let you know when your next assignment comes up," Hanayo waved them off and returned to her computer. Everything on the screen was just leftover attempts at trying to figure out where Kotori had been hiding.

"Wait a minute..." Hanayo sat up and leaned closer to inspect the almost meaningless clues.

* * *

The doors to the office opened and a ginger haired girl lead an orange haired girl inside. Kotori spun around in her chair to face the two women, "I'm surprised you came, Tiger."

Rin stretched her arms in response, "What do you want from me?"

"I need your services on my team," she replied.

Rin scoffed, "What makes you think I would join you? I'm my own boss."

Kotori reached down for a case underneath her desk and tossed it over, "I would imagine this to be enough for you to join."

Rin approached the case carefully and opened it to see more money than she had ever seen before. It was like she had won a tournament but it was multiplied, the money shined in her eyes but she remained strong willed, "Nice try, but this won't get me to join you."

"I also have another offer to add," Kotori replied.

Rin raised her brow, "More than this?"

Kotori smiled, "Revenge," she uncrossed her legs and stood up to get closer to Rin, "I can help you get revenge on Rabbit & Panther."

Rin gulped, "Are you serious?"

"I have the perfect plan set up, and if you join my side right now, you'll just be in time for the show," Kotori whispered into her ear and made her way back to her desk.

Rin clenched her fist and thought to herself, "If I just deal with this, I can have all this money and kill Rabbit & Panther for good..." she closed her eyes and debated the topic in her head for several seconds before opening her eyes slowly and staring back at Kotori. A grin crossed her face, "You have a deal..."

* * *

Hanayo pressed the button for the intercom and spoke into it, "Rabbit, Panther, I have a location for you two to check out," Hanayo clicked through her computer and looked at her clues, "I believe they're hiding out at this old construction site."

"We'll be up in a minute," a voice replied.

Maki let go of the button and turned to face Umi who was laying down on her bed, "We have to get ready, Umi."

"What is it this time? A babysitting job?" Umi sat up from her bed.

"Widow thinks she found out where that Kotori girl is hiding," Maki answered.

Umi stood up and reached under Maki's bed to pull out their case full of gear, "It sure took her a long time, being a "master" hacker and all."

Maki shrugged, "Eh, if it's true we'll get our revenge. If not we just come home, right?"

The two slipped into their gear and made their way up to Hanayo's office, when they entered, Hanayo was already waiting to debrief them on where they were going.

"Rabbit, Panther... After analyzing and tracking the clues that Swallow left behind, I have reason to believe that her and her team are hiding out at this abandoned construction site," she explained.

"Why would they hide there?" Umi asked.

"I'm not sure myself, there are numerous spots where they are open to being attacked, perhaps they're hiding out in the finished part of the building before it was called off," Hanayo suggested.

"Are you sure this time that it's them? Everywhere you sent us before came out empty handed," Maki asked.

"I know how Swallow thinks, everywhere we went to now was just a diversion until we found that place," Hanayo answered, "Wolf will drop you off at the location and be back in 30 minutes as usual."

The two girls nodded and left to meet up with Nico in the parking lot. This time it was a black SUV and Nico opened the backseat doors for the two of them. When they got inside, Nico started the engine and quickly sped out of the parking lot towards the construction site.

When they arrived, Maki and Umi jumped out of the car, "Good luck you two, don't die on us," the girls nodded at Nico and she sped off.

Umi and Maki looked at each other and nodded before grabbing a hold of their pistols. They rushed towards the entrance of the construction site and took note of what they could.

It was most likely a half finished building, they could see that a good portion of it had been finished, but the scaffoldings and steel beams at the top suggested that it wasn't finished.

"Alright, just like we planned, Maki..." Umi took point and entered the building with Maki following closely behind her. They remained in formation and moved together, quickly surveying the first few floors with no signs of trouble.

"Do you think this is just another empty one?" Maki asked.

"Not until we reach the top floor..." Umi answered.

"So, I was thinking that after this, we should schedule a vacation for the two of us," Maki continued.

"Now is not the time…" Umi replied harshly.

Maki frowned and lowered her gun, "Aww come on, we can go to the Bahamas, or maybe Jamaica. Some place warm would be great…"

"Quiet down…" Umi kicked back and made contact with Maki's shin, causing the redhead to react violently.

"What the hell? Can't you just cover my mouth instead of hitting me?" Maki yelled in a hushed tone.

"Do you hear the music?" Umi asked.

Maki bent down and rubbed her shin as she listened for the music, it was the same music box tone that the two of them heard when they encountered Fox and Tanuki, "Do you think it's those knock off kids tv show evil duo again?"

Umi accidentally giggled and regained her composure quickly, "M-Maybe, watch out for Tanuki's traps."

Maki nodded and they carefully traversed the building towards the source of the music. The two followed the source until it could be heard from the other side of a doorway. The duo nodded at each other and prepared to breach the room, "Alright, kick it!" Umi ordered.

Maki cranked her leg up and thrusted her foot forward, forcing the door open and allowing for the both of them to storm in.

The duo lowered their firearms when they spotted a single person waiting for them in the center of the room. A small table with a music box on top was right next to her and the girl smiled sinisterly, "Lights out," she said with a snap.

The lights in the room shut off and the windows were immediately sealed by steel sheets, "Maki stick close to me!" Umi yelled.

"I'm trying, I can't see shit!" Maki yelled back.

Umi grabbed a hold of Maki's hand and carefully navigated the room, "Get your flashlight out, I'll cover you."

Maki felt Umi let go of her hand and quickly reached into her pockets for a tactical light to put on her pistol, "Umi, I got it."

"Alright, switch it on quickly," Umi ordered.

Maki felt her hand being grabbed again and flipped on the tactical light. The area the light illuminated was rather dim and barely offered much to begin with, "Hey Umi? I think this thing is defective…" she waved the light towards Umi and gasped.

The person in the light wasn't Umi and a cloth quickly covered over her mouth and nose, "S-Shi…"

Maki felt her consciousness slowly slipping away before the cloth was pulled away from her mouth. Her legs gave out and she felt a pair of arms underneath her own, dragging her away from where she stood. Her body was thrown against a chair and bindings wrapped around her wrist and ankles before a sharp prick to the side of her neck brought her back to her senses, "W-What just happened?!"

Maki tried desperately to escape from the bindings but was unable to break through with her strength. She jerked her head back and forth in search of the person that attacked her, "Where are you, you coward?!"

A large thud shook the floor and the lights switched back on. Maki looked straight ahead to see Umi at the end of the room holding onto another woman's hand.

The two of them made eye contact and Umi's eyes widened immediately. Maki watched as the woman behind Umi smiled and landed a roundhouse kick against Umi's back, propelling her towards Maki, "Umi!" the redhead screamed.

Umi's body flew closer and closer until it suddenly came to a stop. Her body fell down and she stumbled onto her feet. The blue haired girl turned around and pushed against an invisible force a couple of feet away from Maki.

Maki remembered the loud thud from earlier just before the lights switched on, it must have been a thick glass wall. Maki bounced around in her seat in attempts to escape and watched as Umi helplessly banged on the glass.

"Hey Rabbit, are you ready for round two?" the woman asked.

Umi turned around and recognized her face now that the room was lit, "Tiger…" she gripped onto her pistol tighter and glanced back at Maki before shooting a few rounds into the glass. As she suspected, it was bulletproof. It would take more ammo than she had on her to break through.

"There's no tagging out this time, Rabbit," Rin licked her lips and smiled, "Only one of us is making it out tonight."

Umi gulped and faced Rin once again, "You really want to go at it again, huh?"

"I've been training ever since our last encounter, I can't wait to snap that pretty little neck of yours once I'm done toying with you…" Rin spat.

Umi readied herself for the fight and glanced over at Maki who continued to struggle to escape. When she looked back at Rin, the woman was already a few feet in front of her, giving Umi a split second to react.

She brought her arms up to cover her face but felt something drive into her stomach instead. She stumbled back against the glass wall and held her stomach. The pain resonated and pulsated around her abdomen.

She kept her eyes fixated on Rin and watched for her next attack. It was a straight punch which Umi was able to dodge easily. After several dodges, Umi managed to make it to the other side of Rin, away from the glass wall.

"Dodging just like the little Rabbit you are," Rin teased.

Umi gripped her gun and began her assault, Rin was able to parry her attacks where she used her pistol, but Umi landed most of her hits because of how focused Rin was on not getting shot.

"Hey, get that gun away, you cheater!" Rin yelled.

Umi ignored her words and continued to attack until she was able to land a shot on Rin's leg.

"Ahhh!" The girl collapsed to the ground after taking a step back and looked up at Umi with furious eyes, "That's not fair!"

Umi pointed her gun at Rin and approached her carefully, "Let Maki go."

Rin laughed and held her hands up, "I'm afraid that the others have a different plan for your precious Panther."

Umi's brow furrowed, "Let her go now. Or I will shoot you."

Rin forced herself onto her feet despite her wound and smiled, "You're going to have to ask someone else for that."

Umi glanced over Rin's shoulder and noticed Nozomi standing behind Maki, "What the-"

Umi was cut off by a knee driving against her chin, knocking her onto her back and writhing in pain, "Never take your eyes off your prey, Rabbit!"

Umi held up her gun weakly and it was immediately kicked out of her hand by Rin. The girl stood over Umi and smiled sadistically, "Game over, Rabbit."

Rin reached down and lifted Umi by her collar before placing her arm around her neck and putting the girl in a chokehold, "Now let's watch as Tanuki has some fun with little ol Panther."

Umi struggled to escape from Rin's chokehold, but it only became tighter the more she did, "Woah there, Rabbit. Take it easy, I wouldn't want to accidentally snap your neck before the fun begins."

Rin firmly kept Umi tame and the two watched as Nozomi placed her hands on Maki's shoulders, "Good evening, Panther."

"Tanuki…" Maki replied coldly, "How's Fox? Dead I bet…"

Maki felt the hands around her shoulders grip tighter before one of them chopped down and made her go weak, "W-What did you just do to me?"

Nozomi remained silent and pushed Maki's head to the side until her neck was open, "H-Hey, what do you think you're doing?!" Without a single word, Nozomi pulled out a syringe and stabbed it into Maki's neck, injecting her with an unknown liquid.

"Maki!" Umi screamed, she struggled again to escape but it was no good.

Maki felt her body starting to heat up and she began sweating in a matter of minutes, "What the hell did you put into me?!" she yelled.

Nozomi smiled, "A hallucinogenic concoction I made with some aphrodisiac mixed in. I suppose you can call this a psychotic love potion."

"Wh-What?!" Maki struggled to keep herself calm.

Nozomi tossed Maki's knife onto her lap and made her way to a door, "By the way, Fox is alive… but you two won't be."

"Hey! Hey get back here!" Maki yelled, "What is going to happen to me?! Tell me!"

Maki watched Nozomi exit the room and listened for what sounded like an electronic lock. She glanced down at her knife and kicked her leg up just enough to suspend the knife in air and catch it with her teeth, "I got to get out of here and help Umi quickly."

She cut away the bindings around her wrists and then her ankles before propelling herself off the chair and towards the glass wall. She banged on it over and over again, "Umi! Umi!" Maki shook her head and held it with one hand, "Ugh, my head…" pain pulsated and beat her head, the more time passed, the more it amplified.

Rin smiled devilishly and twisted Umi's face toward her own, "How about we put on a little show for your precious panther?" Rin pushed her lips against Umi's and forcibly began kissing her. Umi's eyes widened as she tried to escape from Rin's clutches.

Maki's jaw dropped in disbelief, "No… What are you doing, Umi?! Get away from her!" Maki gripped her knife harder and started driving it into the glass wall repeatedly.

Umi felt herself get pushed onto the floor before Rin was on top of her again. The orange haired girl brought her face closer to Umi's and began kissing her once again, "You have nice lips for a killer, Rabbit."

"Get off of me…" Umi replied coldly.

Maki watched the two of them lock lips and slowly drove into insanity, "Umi! Stop kissing her! You already have me!" Maki screamed and reach for the chair she sat on earlier, using it to bash against the glass wall until it cracked. She attacked the wall over and over again as the cracks spread further and further.

"Now for a little teaser to really get her off," Rin laughed. She tugged on Umi's shirt until the buttons were undone and undid her pants, "Just wait until she sees this," Rin tossed Umi's clothes to the side, leaving her in her underwear before kissing her once again.

With a fearsome roar, Maki chucked the chair at the wall hard enough to create a weakness in the wall to punch a hole for her to see through. When she spotted Rin and Umi, her eyes widened and an anger boiled up inside of her, "Umi! You're cheating on me!"

Maki continuously punched around the hole in the glass wall until it was big enough for her to squeeze through. She stumbled to her feet and sprinted towards the two of them before she tripped over her own feet.

"Time for me to leave you two alone," Rin announced. The orange haired girl got off of Umi and quickly escaped behind a door.

The blue haired girl sat up and brushed herself off before she was tackled by Maki, "M-Maki?!"

"Umi… how dare you cheat on me with that bitch!" Maki yelled.

"Maki, stop!" Umi yelled back.

"I saw it, I saw the look on your face when you kissed her! Did you think I wouldn't notice?!" Maki screamed.

Umi felt pain around her arms where Maki gripped, "M-Maki, you need to relax, the drug that Nozomi gave you is making you irrational."

"Irrational?! You're the one lying here almost naked with that woman!" Maki yelled.

"She was doing it to make you angry, I promise you Maki, I wasn't cheating on you or anything. She forced me into that," Umi replied calmly.

"Shut up! You're mine, and I'm going to make you remember that!" Maki pushed Umi onto the ground and forced their lips together.

"M-Ma...ki…" Umi muttered in between kisses.

Maki grabbed her knife and poked Umi lightly with it, "If I can't have you, then I'm willing to kill you so that no one else can."

Umi gulped nervously as Maki brought the knife up to her neck, "... Maki, listen to me, the drugs are making you crazy…"

"Stop talking!" Maki tossed her knife to the side and wrapped her hands around Umi's neck.

Umi felt Maki's hands tightening and strangling her, making it difficult to breathe, "Ma... ki…"

"I love you Umi! I love you so much! This is why I have to do this!" Maki yelled. She grabbed Umi's neck harder and began bashing the back of her head against the ground. Umi held on for as long as she could before blacking out.

* * *

Umi sprung awake in what seemed like a few moments underneath a single light, "W-What?!"

Rin stepped into her sight and smiled, "Welcome back from the dead, Rabbit. I did say that I would be the one to kill you for good."

Umi breathed heavily and looked around, "Wh-Where's Maki?!"

Rin snapped her fingers and another light shined on Maki who was passed out and tied to a chair. It looked like she was hooked up to a machine, "Maki?! Maki wake up!" Umi yelled.

The redhead fluttered her eyelids open and made eye contact with Umi, "...Umi…?"

Rin giggled, "You put on quite a show earlier," she mocked.

Maki glanced down shamefully, "I'm sorry… Umi…"

Rin pranced over and grabbed Maki's hair, pulling up so that her face was visible, "I don't think she heard you, say it again!"

"Fuck you."

Rin's face twisted from playful to angry. She struck Maki's gut in response, causing the redhead to wretch from the attack, "You'll get what's coming to you, Panther. But first, we're going to play a little game!" Rin reached down next to Maki and jammed a spherical helmet onto her. On the backside of the helmet was a tube which connected it to the machine.

Rin skipped forward and twirled around, "As you can see, both of you are strapped to this nifty machine," she knelt down next to Umi and smiled, "What machine, do you ask?"

She jumped onto her feet and spun her way over to the machine, "With a flip of this switch, this machine will start monitoring both of your heart rates!" The duo glanced at each other in fear before Rin spoke up again, "So here's how the game works! I'm going to keep killing you two over and over again until I get bored."

"W-What are you talking about?" Maki asked nervously.

Rin walked across the room to grab a dirty rag and one of many gallons of water off of a table, "I'm going to drown your little Rabbit here until she dies. Once her heart rate stops, that is going to trigger the failsafe system and begin sucking the air out of your tiny little lungs."

Maki gulped nervously and looked at Umi who wore the same expression as she did, "Once you die, the counter failsafe system will activate, causing this little bunny to rise from the dead only to be killed again."

"And you can guess that it rinses and repeats until I'm tired of killing you two," Rin said while laughing, "And now, to get on with the torture porn!"

Umi began struggling to get out of her restraints and looked at Maki who was doing the same. Their eyes met and Maki wore an expression of fear, "Look away Maki! Look awa-" Umi's mouth was forcefully covered with the rag that Rin held and she immediately felt copious amounts of water flooding both her mouth and her nostrils.

She tried to swallow as much of the water as she could and try to breathe but the thickness of the rag after it had been soaked by the water prevented her from getting a good breath of air. Her body writhed as she tried her hardest to hang on for dear life.

"Umi!" Maki called out.

"Just let it take over you, Rabbit…" Rin whispered.

Umi clenched her hands as hard as she could before it became unbearable. There was too much water and not enough time to breathe. She felt her consciousness fade away and her heart slowly came to a stop.

Maki's jaw dropped, "Umi? H-Hey wake up! You're just pretending, right?" A high pitched beep invaded Maki's ears and she felt the hose behind her starting to vacuum the air out of her helmet, "S-Shi-"

It didn't take long for her to start gasping for air. She tried to move every part of her body to take the helmet off, but she was binded to the chair. She was unable to do anything but accept her death. Her chest began feeling heavy, she breathed for air, but nothing would enter her lungs. Maki closed her eyes and dropped her head to the side.

Another high pitched beep filled the room and Umi's body jolted from the shock pads already secured to her. She gasped for air and opened her eyes as quickly as she could, "Welcome back again, Rabbit."

Umi breathed heavily and glanced up at Rin, "I'm going to kill you…" she said with a sinister tone.

Rin smiled and moved in closer, "Aww, is someone a little sad that her Panther is dead?" she used her hand to tilt Umi's face towards Maki.

Umi's jaw dropped when she saw the lifeless redhead slumped over on the chair, "You… Let her go now!"

Rin pondered on the thought sarcastically, "Hmm, you know what? Maybe I should since you asked so forcibly. What do I look like? An idiot?"

Umi scoffed, "You're going to end up looking a lot worse once we escape…"

Rin pranced over to Maki and played with her like a puppet, mocking her voice, "Umi, please save me! I'm useless and need your help~"

Umi gritted her teeth, "Stop that!"

"I don't know, I think this act is funny, how about you Rin?" Rin turned Maki's head to face her, "Gee, I put so much time and effort into this joke."

Rin let go of the helmet and Maki's lifeless body returned to how it was before Rin tampered with it. She looked at the clock and glanced over at Umi, "Hey, I'll give you a chance to save her." Umi stared menacingly at the girl without a word, "You see, if she is dead for too long, there's no way to bring her back."

Rin clapped and smiled at Umi, "So! To save her before it's too late, I'll just have to kill you again. It's totally your choice though."

Umi balled her fists until she could feel her fingernails digging into her palms, "...Do it…" she muttered.

"What was that? Are you asking me to kill you again?" Rin teased.

"Just fucking do it!" Umi yelled.

Rin backed away, "Woah, no need to yell. This is a very civil conversation."

Umi closed her eyes and took a deep breath before the wet rag was placed over her face and water began filling her mouth once again. She naturally struggled to stay awake, but that only delayed the inevitable.

Umi died once again and Maki's machine began pumping oxygen back into Maki's helmet before her heart was jump started. The redhead jerked awake violently and looked around while gasping for air. Her head was fuzzy but when her eyes landed back on Rin her energy returned, "Fucking Tiger! I'm going to rip your head off if you don't let us go!"

Rin approached the aggravated redhead and kicked her stomach, "You should save your breath, you're going to need it."

"I'm going to kill you if it's the last thing I do," Maki threatened.

"Oh? Even if it costs the life of your precious Rabbit?" Rin asked.

Maki gripped the armrests on her chair tighter, "What are you getting at…?"

"You see, Rabby over there voluntarily asked to be drowned so that you could live. Now it's only fair since it's in the rulebook that I have to inform you that you have the option to die again so she can live," Rin replied.

Maki gritted her teeth until it started to hurt her jaw, "... Kill me."

Rin's eyes widened and she began clapping, "Holy smokes, no hesitation at all! I like that!" Rin raised her hand for a high five and then laughed, "I'm just kidding, you can die now."

Maki heard Rin push a button out of sight and the machine began sucking air out of her helmet once again. Rin watched with pleasure as the life slowly drained from Maki's face a second time before a knock on the door interrupted her, "For the love of…"

Rin stomped her way towards the door and swung it open, "Who is it?! Can't you see I'm bus-" her words cut off when she felt something puncture her neck, making her drowsy in a matter of seconds. She fought as hard as she could, but the mix was too strong for her to resist.

Rin collapsed to the ground and a shadowed figure stepped over her body and into the room. Maki held whatever breath she had left and turned her head to face the shadowed figure. Her eyes instantly gleamed with hope as the figure came closer and pried the helmet off of her.

Maki gasped for air like she never had before and hunched back to get as much into her lungs as possible. She felt the bindings around her wrists and ankles give away and glanced over at the figure, "What took you so long, Wolf?"

"Kept you waiting, huh?" Nico replied.

Maki scoffed, "That's the understatement of the year…" she ripped away everything plugged up to her and ran for Umi, "Hey Umi, wake up!"

She slapped the girl's cheeks and immediately began CPR, "Wake up!"

Nico grabbed Maki's shoulder, "What?!"

"They've got ground forces storming the building, we need to move now," Nico answered.

"Can't you see I'm trying to save Umi's life?! Give me a few minutes!" Maki yelled.

Nico pulled Maki's shoulder enough to face her, "We don't have a few minutes! Unhook her and we'll revive her later!"

Maki pushed Nico away, "Screw you! I'm going to bring her back before it's too late!"

"By the time you bring her back, we'll be dead!" Nico yelled.

"Just shut up and let me work!" Maki screamed back.

"I'm sorry…" Nico held up her gun and pulled the trigger.

Maki felt a prick in her neck and instantly became drowsy, "Wh-wha…" her legs became weak and she passed out before she hit the ground.

Nico sighed and checked how many tranquilizer rounds she had left before throwing both of the girls over her shoulders, "It never gets easier…"

Nico sprinted out of the room and down the corridor, "Crap!" she quickly pressed herself against a corner as a team of enemy forces rushed up the stairs and went the other direction. She made it halfway down the stairs before she caught a glimpse of a few lights coming up the stairs, "Another team, are you kidding me?"

Nico turned around and sprinted back up the steps and up another floor, "We won't be able to get out at this rate with all of them swarming the exits…"

She continued up the stairs until she reached the highest completed floor of the building, "Okay, options… options…" Nico looked around as quickly as she could, "There's a ladder there… but how am I going to get both of them down?"

Nico jogged over to the ladder and glanced down to see how far the trip was, "Even if I took one of them at a time, we'll be caught like deers in front of headlights…" Nico looked around until she spotted a nearby industrial sized dumpster which looked like it was filled loads of trash and cardboard boxes, "Not the best plan, but it's our only one…"

Nico strapped the girls as tightly as she could to her body and prepared to make the jump. She took a deep breath and broke into a sprint towards the edge of the building before leaping as far as she could. The three of them fell alarmingly fast and landed hard in the piles of trash. Nico let out a gasp as she tried her best to cope with the amount of pain she just went through. Luckily the other two were already passed out, but that didn't mean they could have broken something during the fall.

Nico stood up quickly and climbed out before proceeding on foot with the girls still over her shoulders. She snuck over to the side to spot that her getaway vehicle had already been seized by Kotori's forces. She clicked her tongue and looked around for any other transport options, "They cleared this place out, I'm going to have to run for it…"

Nico readjusted the girls over her shoulders and jogged off as quickly as she could, "Alright, think Nico. HQ is too far away, by the time I get there, Umi won't have a chance to wake up again…"

"I'll just have to take them to that place…" Nico made a quick turn and headed for their temporary sanctuary.

* * *

Maki's eyes flung open to see a nurse sitting by her bedside. The room was annoyingly white and it took time for her eyes to adjust, "Are you awake, Panther?" Maki glared at the nurse with a nasty expression, but the nurse returned it with a smile, "You are safe here, Panther. We are not your enemies."

Maki eased herself just a little before speaking up, "Where am I? Where's Umi?"

The nurse got up off her seat and presented Maki with a glass of water, "Please, drink first. You must be thirsty."

Maki grabbed the glass and gulped it all in one go, "There, now tell me."

"You're at Otonokizaka Day Care, Wolf brought you and your partner here," she replied.

"Umi, where is she?!" Maki sat up and was pushed back down gently by the nurse.

"She has recovered from death, but unfortunately, she hasn't awoken yet. It seems like it took too much time for her to arrive to fully recover," the nurse answered.

"W-What do you mean… she didn't have a full recovery?" Maki asked.

"If she were to have made it here on time, she would be awake by now. But she has yet to awaken. We believe she is in a comatose state," she answered.

"Umi… This is all my fault…" Maki hung her head and stared into her palms. Images of her strangling Umi flashed before her eyes. She could remember how soft and weak Umi's neck was in her grip. She could remember how hard she bashed Umi's head against the floor.

Her hands shook until the nurse grabbed both of them, "Whatever happened last night, is already done. The only thing you can do now is make up for it… Would you like to see Rabbit?"

Maki nodded and the nurse helped her onto her feet, "Watch your step, sometimes the kids leave toys on the ground."

"I hope there aren't any legos…" Maki replied.

The nurse laughed, "Well let's just say your hope might get shattered."

Maki followed the nurse through a set of doors and could see numerous kids playing around with a few caretakers from the other side of the hallway window. The sight made her smile.

"Are you fond of children, Panther?" the nurse asked.

Maki cleared her throat, "Just a little… I couldn't be a mother myself anyways."

"You say that like you have no hope left," the nurse replied.

"I get satisfaction from taking lives, who would want a mother like me?" Maki asked.

"Would you like to have a child with Rabbit?" the nurse asked.

Maki blushed and continued walking, "It's too late for us… we're monsters… not mothers…"

The nurse frowned and caught up with Maki, "Just a little further and we'll get to Rabbit's room."

The two came to a stop in front of an unlabeled door and the nurse unlocked it with a key. She pushed the door opened and let Maki in first. Her eyes widened when she saw Umi hooked up to a machine, "Umi…"

Maki stepped forward and the nurse slipped in, closing the door behind her, "Her condition is stable, like I said. But she is stuck in a comatose state."

Maki walked up to the blue haired girl whose face looked peaceful. She tapped her cheeks lightly, "Hey Umi… wake up…" she whimpered.

There was no response, only the beeps from the heart rate monitor, "Can you leave us alone for a bit?" Maki asked.

The nurse nodded, "I'll be right outside if you need me."

Maki waited until she heard the door close behind her to grab a chair and rest her head against Umi's lap. She grasped Umi's hand and whimpered silently. The door suddenly flew open and Maki quickly wiped away her tears, "I said that I wanted to be left alone!"

She jerked her head back to see Hanayo and Nico standing by the doorway. When she saw Hanayo's face, an unknown anger built up inside of her until she jumped off her chair and lunged at her, "You! You're the reason why Umi is like this!"

Maki swung her fist towards Hanayo but it was caught and stopped by Nico, "Let go of me, Wolf-" she suddenly found herself upside down and on the ground, "Ahh!"

Nico used her knee to keep Maki pinned to the ground, "Calm down, Panther," she instructed.

"Calm down?! She's the reason why were were lead into that trap! She's the reason why we died!" Maki yelled.

"But you two are still alive…" Hanayo spoke up.

Maki glared up at the woman and spat at her feet, "Kiss my ass…"

"It is true that Rabbit is out of commission, but we still need you, Panther," Hanayo continued.

"Need me?" Maki laughed dryly, "You need me to leave her all by herself?!"

Nico applied more pressure, "You still have a job to complete."

"Why? You know I don't work without Umi," Maki replied with a strained voice.

"Wolf is going to be your new partner until Rabbit recovers," Hanayo replied.

"No way, either I work alone or not at all," Maki spat back.

Nico looked up at Hanayo and shared a nod, "I work better alone anyways, Widow."

Hanayo sighed, "Fine… I'll let you run around on your own."

Nico let go of Maki and helped her to her feet, "What do you need me to do?"

Hanayo fixed her glasses and handed her a file, "Until we find where Kotori is hiding out, I'm sending you on some missions from our clients."

"When did we become available for hire?" Maki asked sarcastically.

"Read those files and do them accordingly. In whichever order you wish to do them in is up to you. Good luck, Panther," Hanayo stepped out of the room leaving Maki and Nico alone.

Nico cleared her throat, "Hey… About Rabbit… I moved as quickly as I could."

"Yeah…" Maki replied coldly.

Nico frowned and left the room quickly, leaving the redhead alone.

Maki picked up the chair that had fallen over and took a seat to view the contents, there were a giant stack of photos of presumably targets that she had to take care of. She shuffled through them emotionlessly until one caught her eye, "Kotori…?"

Maki shuffled around with the other papers and found a note addressed to her from Hanayo, "These are your targets, use them to find Swallow." Maki grinned and began pinning up the pictures in the room, "Alright, Swallow…" Maki grabbed her knife and stabbed it into Kotori's photo, "I'm coming for you."


End file.
